


Jack is Back

by Total_whovian



Category: Major Crimes (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-02
Updated: 2016-03-02
Packaged: 2018-05-24 07:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6146098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Total_whovian/pseuds/Total_whovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack has always wanted to know what was going on when it suited him, like now. Sharon and Andy seem close and he wants to know how close, but what kind of danger will he bring with him? I hope you all enjoy it! The rating is for language.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sharon looked at her watch as she sat in traffic, waiting to get back home to Rusty and hopefully feel a bit better about today. She had to read Julio his rights in order to protect him from IA, but she could see the look of shock and hurt that crossed his features. He was not happy with her, nobody was, but she knew how IA worked and she just hoped that they would see that this was for the best. She glanced down at her watch again and huffed in frustration. LA traffic sucked.

At The Condo…

He should have left the house a couple of minutes ago, but he was running late. Rusty was getting ready to put dinner in the oven and set the table when there was a frantic pounding on the door. He knew that Sharon was due home in about half an hour and they weren’t expecting any visitors until later, so this was confusing. Setting the pan on top of the stove, Rusty wiped his hands on a nearby towel and headed towards the door. The banging was still persistent and Rusty was getting fed up.

“Yeah, I heard you,” he mumbled, “I’m coming. If only people could learn some patience.”

Rusty reached the door and looked through the peep hole. Standing on the other side of the door was Jackson Raydor and he was not happy. Rusty debated whether or not to open the door, but when Jack resumed his banging he had to open it. 

“Jack,” Rusty said swinging the door open, “Sharon is not here, so if you are waiting to like yell at her, it’s not going to happen.” 

“Well, isn't that convenient,” Jack sneered, “and she accused me of being the neglectful one…Tell me Rusty, you wouldn’t happen to know why both of my children seem to have completely drawn away from me halfway through the holidays?”

“Jack, why don’t you ask your children? You know, ask them directly instead of going around the situation,” Rusty replied sarcastically before a distinct scent caught his attention, “Is that alcohol? Have you been drinking, Jack?”

“Why the hell does that matter!” Jack yelled, turning on him, “You are not my wife, and neither is Sharon anymore! If I want to indulge in a few drinks, then I can.”

“Sharon is not going to be happy, Jack,” Rusty said, cautiously looking towards the front door, while silently praying that Sharon would walk through it. 

“Yeah well, screw Sharon and her beliefs. She preaches her Catholic systems, but what was she following when she was screwing that Lieutenant of hers, while we were still married?!”

Rusty quickly looked at Jack at the mention of Flynn and Sharon. He doesn’t realize how wrong he is. Jack seemed to take his glance the wrong way however, and a maniacal glee settled on within him.

“I know all about her relationship with Andy,” Jack said slowly approaching Rusty, “all of their outings and gentle touches…and I have pictures to prove it. She can deny it all she wants, but I have got her and her screw buddy for fraternization within the work place and her on infidelity.”

Rusty was sure his mouth was hitting the ground as he took in everything Jack the jackass had just said.

“Sharon was not having an affair, Jack,” Rusty gasped, “She had nothing but respect for the marriage. She honored it, and I am surprised she didn’t get rid of you sooner considering the way you've treated her! I’m pretty sure you were the one that went out and like…messed around, yet Sharon stayed married to you.”

“She stayed married to me?” Jack scoffed, “I had to stay married to her! She is the Ice Queen that everybody hated to interact with, and I was married to that!”

Rusty could feel the anger that was boiling inside of him, and he had to fight hard not to punch Jack. 

“Sharon’s job required that people not like her! She was the one that had to do all of the hard stuff to make sure that everyone was safe! Plus, didn’t she take that job to put you through school and pay off all of the debt that you left her with?! She may not talk about it a lot Jack, but I know what addicts do to their families. You were the one who screwed around and hurt her, and she continued to raise your children, pay your debts, and take you back. She tried to patch the relationship that you were so keen on avoiding, so don’t you think for one minute that I am going to listen to you bad mouth my mom!”

Jack looked taken aback by Rusty’s defense of Sharon, and even more so to his use of ‘mom.’ Closing in on Rusty, Jack grabbed his upper arms and threw him to the ground before standing over him.

“She has you wrapped around her finger. You think that she is a saint and that everything she does is perfect. Well guess what, that bitch is far from perfect!” Jack reached down to grab the front of Rusty’s shirt, “She is not your mother either. She will never love you the way she loves my children…”

Meanwhile…

Sharon adjusted her purse on her shoulder after digging around for her keys. Her feet were aching and she could feel a headache coming on, but she would be drawing up a bath soon enough. As she approached her door, she could hear Rusty’s raised voice and if that wasn’t enough to alarm her, Jack’s voice following quickly after, made her jump into action. Thrusting her keys into the lock, she threw the door open to find Rusty on the ground and Jack above him shouting.

“Jackson Raydor!” Sharon yelled, “If you do not let my son go this instant, I swear I will charge you with breaking and entering and assault!”

Jack instantly let go of Rusty and whipped around to face his ex-wife. 

“He let me in Shar-on,” Jack huffed, using the annunciation of her name he knew she hated, “You can’t get me on that. Plus, I was just helping the kid up-“

“Jack,” Darth- Raydor appeared, “I don’t know why you are in my home, but you are not welcome and you need to leave now.”

After seeing the subtle change from Sharon to IA Raydor, Jack almost gave in and fled the condo right then and there. Almost. Reason and decency had no room in his alcohol and rage filled body. 

“I want to know why you sent our actual children to go snooping where they don’t belong. Over the Holidays, I noticed that some things went missing from my place, and Emily seemed to be avoiding the situation,” Jack said looking back at Rusty on the ground, “This street kid may be a bad influence on our children, and I tried telling Ricky that, but he always was a mama’s boy.”

“Jack,” Sharon said, bunching her hands into fists at her sides, “If you think that I am going to let you treat Rusty like you have treated me for the better part of 30 years, I hope you don’t mind being shot. I can smell the alcohol on your breath and I am not going to give you the chance to give me some half-hearted excuse as to why you started drinking again. You need to leave, now.”

Sharon pushed past Jack to help Rusty up from the ground. She was suddenly yanked back by Jack’s hands on her waist. Turning into him quickly, Sharon shoved his arms away from her and stepped back towards Rusty.

“You don’t get to touch me, Jack!” Sharon growled.

“I can do whatever the hell I want! You are the bitch who sent the kids to spy on me, all so you could take them away. Then you sneak off with that Lieutenant, while we were still happily married, and suddenly you want a divorce. Tell me that had nothing-“

Sharon put up a hand to stop him, “You can honestly say that we were happily married? Because I know that it was more out of obligation and memories of the first couple of years that kept me married to you. I never regretted marrying you, Jack. We got Emily and Ricky out of it, and even Rusty because of the way things turned out, but I do regret not realizing that I was nothing to you until recently.”

Jack rolled his eyes and threw up his hands, waiting for her to continue. 

“I did NOT send the kids to spy on you, but do you remember the promise I made to you?” Sharon asked waiting till Jack nodded, “I never meant that I would take your children away from you. I knew that if you started drinking again, you would never see your kids again because you would ruin the already fragile relationship you had with them by drinking again.”

“As far as what is going on between Lieutenant Flynn and myself, we are just friends. We have helped each other through some hard times and we found that we enjoy each other’s company. I don’t know if it is the alcohol or the aftermath of the divorce that has you seeking for something that is not there, but I’m done. We are done, and you need to leave.”

Everyone stayed silent for a few tense moments. Rusty was still propped on his elbows on the floor while Sharon and Jack stared at each other. As if suddenly losing all the fight that he had in him, Jack expelled a large breath and turned towards the door. Reaching the table near the open door, Jack reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a manila envelope.

“These don’t look like outings between just friends,” he said without looking behind him, “I can show myself out.”

Sharon watched as Jack walked out of the condo and closed the door behind him. She looked at the envelope he left before turning back to her son. Looking down at him she could see a bit of guilt shinning in his eyes.

“Rusty, none of this is your fault, okay?” She bent down to offer him a hand and help him off the floor.

“I let him in, Sharon,” he said looking at the floor while dusting off his pants, “I tried so hard not to punch him when he was bad mouthing you…I kind of wish I had hit him.”

Hiding a laugh behind her hand, she reached out to touch his shoulder and encourage him to look at her, “I had to fight the urge not to shoot him when I walked in to find him standing over you.”

Both of them shared a few shy smiles and a small hug before their gazes fell upon Jack’s parting gift. Sharon slowly walked over to it before picking it up and turning it over in her hands. 

“He said…Well, he said,” Rusty hesitated before deciding to just tell her, “he said he had pictures to prove that you and Flynn were together.”

Peeling back the lip of the envelope, Sharon saw several photos tucked inside. Pulling out the first few, Sharon gasped at the images of her and Andy sitting across from each other at one of their usual restaurants. Her hand was resting on his on top of the table, her head was thrown back in laughter and Andy was grinning at her like a fool. The next couple of photos depicted the rest of the night and ended with them getting out of Andy’s car with his arm around her as they walked into her condominium.

Setting them down, she pulled out another few and saw pictures of them walking around the boardwalk. They had gone down there to look for a present for Nicole for her birthday, and something for Rusty’s graduation. They had finished their shopping and were walking close, laughing and smiling. Then she saw ones from when they had decided to walk along the beach. The last one was of them sitting in the sand with his coat around her shoulders and her head inches from his shoulder.

“Sharon?” Rusty said softly, “are you alright?”

Turning around, she realized that she must have let out a gasp because Rusty looked concerned. She also noticed that tears were welling in her eyes.

“I’m fine, honey,” she assured, turning back towards the pictures now splayed out on the table, “I just realized that you and Nicole were right, and in a way, so was Jack.” 

“What do you m-,” Rusty stopped abruptly when he heard a knock at the door.

“It’s alright,” Sharon said, going over to the door with the photos in her hand, “Jack may be drunk, but he wouldn’t be stupid enough to come back.”

Suddenly, Rusty remembered who was at the door. He was supposed to be out of the condo so they could talk. He really messed up, but it was too late. Sharon was already at the door.

“Andy?” Sharon gasped, looking at the man on the other side of the door. He had on the same suit from today, but he was holding flowers in his hand. 

“Hey,” he said, concern caressing his face, and settling in the wrinkles now present on his forehead, “what’s wrong? What are those?”

Looking from his face down to the photos in her hand, Sharon could only shake her head. 

“I’m fine. What are you doing here?” She asked giving him a small smile.

“I was hoping that we could talk-” Andy started before being cut off by Rusty.

“I was supposed to be out of the condo, but I forgot,” he said gesturing around the living room, “I can leave now if you want?”

“No,” Sharon said, “what do you mean you were ‘supposed to be out of the condo’?”

“Ah, that was my bad,” Andy said from behind her, “I wanted to surprise you and be able to sit down and talk where you were comfortable. I texted Rusty and asked him for his help.”

“Yeah, and I messed that up by staying here and letting Jack…” Rusty trailed off not quite sure what to say.

“Jack was here?” Andy practically yelled.

Placing her hand on his shoulder, Sharon tried to calm him down.

“Andy, it’s alright,” she said looking down at the flowers he was holding in his hands, “Are those for me?”

Suddenly remembering the lilies in his hand, “Ah, yeah. I saw them earlier today and thought of you. I know you said you liked the ones at Nicole’s wedding, so…I bought them.”

Smiling to herself, Sharon took the offered flowers and walked into the kitchen to look for a vase. Andy looked over at Rusty who was guiltily looking at the ground. 

“Hey kid,” Andy said hoping to get his attention, “Whatever happened, it wasn’t your fault. Jack can be a real jackass when he wants to be. He had no right to show up here…What exactly happened?”

Rusty looked towards the kitchen where Sharon was still trying to get the flowers set up.

“He just started pounding on the door and I let him in to try to get him to stop. He came in and started yelling and telling me that I was not Sharon’s kid and she would never have the same feelings that she did of her own children-” Rusty said a bit nervous.

“Whoa,” Andy interrupted, “Whatever Jack said was nothing but his version of manipulation. You and I both know that Sharon loves you just as much as she loves Ricky and Emily and she would fight anybody who tried to say otherwise.”

“I know,” Rusty said, “but I should have just left him out there until he left.”

“Rusty, look at me,” Andy said softly, “Nobody here is going to blame you for what happened tonight. If you had left him out there, he probably would have found a way in or waited until Sharon got here to be let in. None of this was your fault.”

“He is right, sweetheart,” Sharon added walking back into the living room to join them, “Jack is the type of person who will make everyone feel like crap just to feel better about how he feels. He wants everyone to share in his misery, whether he is sober or drunk.”

Andy quickly looks to Sharon at her last statement, “He was drunk?”

Sighing, Sharon led Andy into the living room and sat down on the couch. 

“Yes. He was drunk and believed that I was behind Ricky and Emily snooping in his life. He said a few things that I didn’t agree with, but I think he knew that it was useless to try to fight me.”

“Are both of you okay?” Andy looked between the two of them, scanning for any obvious injuries.

“Oh my god, Rusty! I didn’t even ask you if he hurt you! You were on the ground, but I have no idea how you got there,” Sharon got up and rushed over to him, checking him for anything.

“I’m fine, Sharon,” Rusty reassured, gently laughing, “He just pushed me to the ground, that was it.”

Sharon seemed to believe him, but she continued to fuss with his clothing and fixing his hair. Andy was looking at something on the coffee table and it appeared he was about to either throw something or hug somebody. That’s when Rusty realized that Sharon had left the pictures on the table when she approached him. 

“Uh, Sharon,” Andy called from where he was standing, “Where did these pictures come from?”

“Oh,” She gasped looking back at Andy, “Jack gave them to me. There are more over there. I think he had us followed to try to prove my infidelity while we were married.”

“Why would he think that?! He is the one that fooled around with-,” he stopped when he met her eyes. He knew that she was not stupid, but that didn’t mean that she wanted to be reminded of it.

“After looking at a few of them, I can see why he was worried,” she chuckled.

“I’m going to just go to my room,” Rusty said, “you guys need to talk, and after what happened, I could use some sleep. Goodnight and I am sorry I ruined your plans, Andy.”

“No worries, kid. I’m glad that you are alright.”

“Goodnight, honey. I’m sorry you had to deal with Jack,” Sharon said as he walked down the hall.

Hearing the door to his room close, Sharon went over to Andy and motioned for him to sit down with her on the couch. She took a hold of one of his hands and brought it to her lap. 

“Andy, after the conversation we had with Rusty and Nicole a couple of weeks ago, I know that I have been a bit distant. I hadn’t really thought about the way that others might have been viewing our ‘non-dates,’ but I think part of that was my fault,” Sharon looked into his eyes before continuing, “I didn’t want to face the fact that something could be happening, because I didn’t think it could. After everything that happened with Jack, I thought I was done with romance and love.

“When I saw those pictures, I realized that we had been going on dates, and the only reason they weren’t dates was because you are a gentleman and I was scared. I came to accept that after Rusty brought attention to it, but it wasn’t until I saw those that I realized I wanted to have a relationship with you. I want to be able to say that I am going out with you and I want to be able to curl up with you and relax after a long day. I want to be able to steal a hug or even a kiss from you at work when nobody is looking or when we both need it.”

“Good, because as much as I love being there for you as your friend,” he said moving closer to her, “ I would really love to be there for you all the time.”

Sharon quirked her eyebrow at this, “I thought I wasn’t your ‘type.’ I’m not a leggy, 20 something blonde looking for a one time deal.”

Andy shook his head and made sure to look her in the eye, “I stopped dating those types of girls when you showed up. I realized I didn’t want those types of trysts anymore, and I realized it was because I was hooked on you. I only had eyes for you. You were the one I was trying to impress and get to notice me. You were, and still are, the one that I try to stare at as you walk by. Your beautiful legs, hair, eyes, smile…everything about you is beautiful, and I wanted to be next to you every moment possible. You were my every thought when I was trying to get you to like me.”

“What about now?” Sharon asked, a smile slowly taking over her face, “What am I to you now?”

“Everything,” Andy replied, leaning in to place his lips on hers. 

They were lost in the kiss with her hands sliding from his to find the back of his head, and his circling her waist for a few blissful minutes. When the need for air became too much, they broke apart only to rest their foreheads against each other. They leaned back against the couch and Sharon cuddled into Andy’s side. They would have to deal with Jack and the photos later, and the team and Taylor would have to be informed, but that could all wait for tomorrow.


	2. Facing the Crowd

Sharon woke up to find that she had fallen asleep on the couch, or more precisely, she had fallen asleep on Andy and they were both still on the couch. She smiled when she heard him snore a bit and then inhale deeply. She could hear the steady thump of his heart beat and she was glad that they had decided to go for it. Andy made her feel comfortable and happy, something that had been missing with Jack for years. She thought back to last night and what had happened. Andy had seemed so worried and concerned for not only her, but Rusty as well. He truly cared for the two of them.

She feels him start to stir beneath her, so she snuggled closer to him. His arms circled her waist even tighter and pulled her flush against him. He slowly opened his eyes and she a mass of red hair resting on his chest. Leaning down a bit, Andy placed a long, soft kiss atop her hair and smiled. He finally had her. He could finally hold, kiss, and love her openly every hour of every day. They were finally together.

“Good morning, beautiful,” Andy smiled down at her as her sleepy eyes met his.

“Hmmm,” Sharon hummed as she crawled up his chest to lightly kiss his lips, “It is a great morning.”

“Yes, it is. I could definitely get used to waking up to you,” Andy held her against him and kissed her again. 

Sharon smiled and brought her hand up to run her fingers through his short hair. It was soft and tousled from sleeping and their activities from the last night. Andy watched the blush start from her neck and work its way up into her cheeks. He chuckled a bit as he pondered what she must be thinking about. Bringing one of his hands to her neck, he brushed her hair to one side and continued to trace her throat. He followed a vein to the underside of her chin. Tracing the line of her jawbone, he brought his hand to rest on her cheek. He looked into her eyes shining and felt his heart jump.

“You really are beautiful, Sharon,” he whispered. 

Instead of responding, Sharon kissed him once more and then rested her head on his chest.

“Thank you, Andy,” she said softly into his chest.

“It’s true,” he shrugged.

“No, I mean thank you for everything,” she laughed, “For setting up a time for us to talk. For giving me time to think about us…for being here for Rusty and me and making sure that we were okay.”

He brushed his hand lightly through her hair as they just laid there. He was glad that they were both okay after Jack’s unexpected visit. It had scared the hell out of him to find out that Jack had shown up drunk while Rusty was home alone. Andy knew that Sharon was used to Jack’s antics, but Rusty was different. Jack probably saw this whole divorce as Rusty’s fault, and Jack could be a real ass when he wanted to be. He would rip into anybody if he felt they deserved it, which meant Rusty had to endure his drunken rage. Andy knew the kid would berate himself for letting Jack in, so he would have to think of something to get Rusty’s mind off of things. Maybe he could take them to the beach?

“So now you guys are sleeping together?” Rusty’s voice startled them out of their thoughts, “I thought you weren’t dating?”

Sharon was off the couch immediately, smoothing out the wrinkles in her skirt and blouse. 

“We…uh um…well, I-we fell asleep and didn’t think about-" Sharon was bumbling over every other word as her cheeks colored to match her auburn locks. 

Rusty laughed as he watched his adoptive mother struggle to speak, “Sharon, I was joking! It’s fine, really. I just wanted to mess with you, and Flynn thought it was funny!”

Sharon whipped around to see Andy trying to hide his laughter as he tucked his shirt into his pants. His shaking shoulders gave him away and soon he was letting out a full belly laugh that had her knees weakening almost instantly. She could see that customary boyish grin spread across his face, so she reached out and lightly slapped his arm.

“You are supposed to be on my side,” Sharon said trying to act hurt, but failing miserably.

“I am,” Andy smirk, rubbing his arm, “but you have to admit that it is an amusing situation.”

“Well, I am glad that the two of you find this amusing,” she replied rolling her eyes at her two boys.

“Hey,” Rusty interjected, “I hardly ever get the chance to tease you. You are like…Captain Perfect or something. I’m sure I will have plenty of things to tease Flynn and Lieutenant Provenza about, but I never had anything on you until you two started not dating.”

Sharon felt Andy come up behind her and circle her waist with his arms. It felt great to be able to lean back into his strong embrace.

“He’s right,” Andy said softly into her ear, “Provenza and I sure screw up a lot. Plus, you sure are adorable when you get flustered.”

That earned him a slap on his wrist and a disgusted groan from Rusty.

“Okay,” Rusty said, “I am going to get out of this room and hopefully avoid any more gooey stuff.”

“Sorry Rusty,” Sharon apologized as she broke from Andy’s embrace, “but weren’t you the one that kept bringing up our relationship?” she teased.

“Yeah, yeah, okay. I did, and I am glad that the two of you obviously worked it out, but that does not mean that I have to be comfortable with seeing my mother romantically active.”

Sharon just laughed and ruffled his hair, which Rusty dodged, and then pulled him into a hug. She whispered a quick ‘thank you’ before she pulled away slightly to look at him smiling back. 

“Why don’t the two of you start to get ready for the day and I will make breakfast,” Andy called over his shoulder as he moved into the kitchen. 

“I’ll help,” Rusty said before turning to Sharon, “Why don’t you take a shower while I make sure Flynn doesn’t light the kitchen on fire.”

“Hey! I can cook just fine, thank you!” Andy yelled from the kitchen.

Sharon bent her head trying hard not to laugh and Rusty just rolled his eyes before proceeding to the kitchen. Shaking her head, Sharon took one more look in their direction before she went down the hall to her bedroom. In the kitchen, Andy started making eggs and bacon with toast. Rusty watched him for a bit before deciding he was ready to talk to him.

“Flynn?”

“What’s up, kid?”

“I uh…was wondering if I could ask you something.”

“Sure,” Andy said, turning to fully face Rusty.

“This is more of a question that Ricky, Emily and I came up with,” Rusty seemed to hesitate before he looked Andy in the eye, “How do you really feel about Sharon? Cause after everything that she went through with Jack, we really don’t want to see her get hurt again. She cares about you a lot, Andy, and it took her a while to open up to that. We want to know that you are going to be here no matter what.”

Andy let out a barely audible sigh before he answered, “Rusty, I can promise you that I would never intentionally hurt Sharon. I know what she has been through with Jack and I could never do anything like that to her. I care for her, Rusty. In fact I think I may be in love with her. I have loved every minute that I have spent with her, and every time she opened up to me I got to see a little piece of her that just made her even more beautiful to me.”

“So is that why you let Nicole think that you two were dating?” Rusty asked cautiously.

“I was being an idiot. I wanted to believe that somebody as wonderful and amazing as Sharon would be interested in me, and when Nicole said how much she liked her, I didn’t want to have to break my own little fantasy. I know that I should have told Sharon what was going on, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to scare her away and lose our friendship and our time together.” 

Rusty smiled and nodded, “Just to be clear, if you ever hurt her, you will be out of here before you can even say you’re sorry. Plus, you will have a pissed Emily and Ricky to fight as well.”

“I could never hurt her,” Andy whispered, “but promise me something.”

“Yeah?” Rusty watched as the Lieutenant stood up straighter.

“If I ever hurt her,” Andy paused as if the idea was too appalling to even think about, “I want you to make sure my ass is out that door.”

Rusty nodded, “I don’t think we have anything to worry about then…She is happier when you are around, Flynn.” 

“She has made me happier than I have felt in a while,” a small smile made its way onto his face, “Sharon is completely out of my league, but as long as she will have me, I will never leave her side.”

A small gasp drew their attention to the subject of their conversation, who was now standing just in the entry of the kitchen. If the tears in her eyes were anything to go by, she had heard a good chunk of their conversation.

“Sharon, I-” Andy began before she put a hand up to silence him.

She slowly approached Rusty first, “I can’t tell you how much it means to me to hear that you are looking out for me. You are truly amazing, Rusty, and I thank God every day that you are here.” 

She pulled him into a gentle hug that Rusty immediately returned. They stayed like this for a while, just holding each other, and Andy wished he had a camera to capture the rare moment between mother and son. When they pulled back, Sharon brushed her thumb across his cheek before turning to Andy. She came up to him and placed her hands on his chest, playing with the tie around his neck.

“Andrew Flynn,” Sharon said looking at his warm brown eyes, “don’t ever think that you aren’t good enough for me, do you understand?” she waited until he nodded before she continued, “You make me feel like a teenager again. I never laugh more than when I am with you. I feel like I am floating on cloud nine when you take me out to dinner or we are sitting next to each other in a dark theater. I feel safe and comfortable around you, something I haven’t felt around most men in a while. So I better never catch you doubting yourself.”

Andy nodded again and pulled her to him. He could feel that her hair was still a bit damp from the shower, and her shampoo made her smell like jasmine. She was wearing the light blue dress and grey cardigan that he loved on her, and without her heels her head fit perfectly under his chin. He didn’t want to break the moment by bring up the fact that he wasn’t all that different from Jack, so he kept his mouth shut and decided to wait for another time. 

Rubbing her back, Andy pushed off of the counter and looked down at her, “Breakfast is ready, so why don’t you set the table with Rusty and I will grab our drinks, okay?”

Nodding, Sharon disentangled herself from his arms and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek. She grabbed the silverware out of a nearby drawer, Rusty placed the placemats and plates down, and Andy grabbed two mugs of coffee and a glass of orange juice. Soon they were all sitting around the table, Sharon and Andy holding each other’s hands on top of the table. 

“When we go in today, I will ask Taylor if I can talk to him,” Sharon announced, “I will fill out all of the necessary paperwork and then hopefully I will be able to tell you how it goes before-”

“Why don’t I go in with you?” Andy stopped her, “You don’t have to do this alone. I mean we are both involved.”

She seemed to hesitate for a minute before she replied, “Are you sure?”

“Of course!” Andy said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze, “Plus, I might be able to calm him down a bit. We’ve known each other for a while, so it might help to have me there.”

Suddenly, Sharon burst out laughing. Her whole upper body was bent over the table and he could hear her start to snort. He looked to Rusty for help, only to see that he was also laughing like a maniac.

“What?!” he asked confused, looking between Sharon and Rusty.

“You really think having one of the department’s troublemakers in his office is going to calm him down?” Rusty chuckled, “If he has known you for a while, then he has had to deal with you for a while too, right?”

“Well, yeah,” Andy began, now realizing that it might be better for Sharon to go in alone, “but I still want to be able to help.”

After getting her breathing under control, Sharon grabbed his other hand, “I know you do, but maybe you could help me tell the team. I will tell Taylor and after I brief you about our meeting you can help me decided how and when to tell the team.”

“Okay, but I think it might be easier for me to tell Taylor than to tell Provenza,” Andy chuckled.

“Well, we can always tease him about Patrice,” Sharon grinned.

“Whoa!” Rusty exclaimed, jumping out of his chair, “What have you done to her, Flynn? She is scheming! She is actually considering using information against somebody for fun.”

He ducked as a napkin came flying his way. Sharon was shaking her head with a smile on her face and Andy was giving him a thumbs-up. If this was the way that mornings were going to be from now on, he thought he could get used to it. 

At the Office…

Sharon and Andy had taken her car, but he had insisted on driving them. When they arrived, he helped her out of the car before she kissed him lightly on the lips. She wanted one more piece of assurance before she had to face their boss. Before they knew it, they were stepping out of the elevator on their floor. Andy gave her hand a quick reassuring squeeze, and they parted ways. Sharon reached Taylor’s office and knocked on the closed door.

“Come in,” Taylor called out without looking up from the files on his desk.

“Chief,” Sharon said as she closed the door behind her, “Do you have a moment?”

“Ah, Captain Raydor. What can I do for you?” Taylor looked up and gestured to a seat in front of his desk. 

“I need to talk to you about filing the proper paperwork to ensure that Lieutenant Flynn’s evaluations and inquiries will be handled by Lieutenant Provenza.”

Taylor looked at her from above her glasses. Sharon remained silent and still as she waited for the onslaught of questions, but what surprised her was the grin that came across his face. 

“So I take it you two finally figured things out?” Taylor said while removing his glasses and setting them on the desk. 

“Chief? What do you mean-” Sharon stopped mid-sentence. 

He knew! Did everyone notice this? Am I that blind?

“When Flynn started acting like a love sick puppy I thought it was just a crush, but when I saw the way you two behaved around each other…I thought I was going to have to file these over a year ago, but I was wrong.”

“A year ago?” she looked down at the folder that was already open on his desk.

“When you started to go out with Flynn, I assumed you two were dating and I almost called both of you into my office and demanded an explanation,” Taylor voice trailed off as he seemed to be remembering that day.

“What stopped you from calling us in, Chief?” Sharon pushed, “If you thought we were in violation of the fraternization policies, why didn’t you reprimand us?”

Chuckling, Taylor answered, “That’s just it. Provenza brought it to my attention that if the two of you really were dating, you would have come in here the first chance you got. He said you probably would have given control over to him before you broke a rule. I figured he was right, so I backed off and watched the two of you dance around each other. It was just a matter of time.”

Sharon couldn’t believe it. This was going a lot better than she thought it would. Here she was thinking she was going to get a lecture about dating a subordinate, when really she was getting an ‘it’s about time’ and the shock of her life. Provenza had defended them, well, her. Smiling, Sharon looked one last time at the files that were awaiting her and Andy’s signatures. They were officially together, and this file was the proof. Although it wasn’t normal for most people, it was perfect for them. 

“I just need your signatures by the end of today, and then I will file everything. You just need to inform Lieutenant Provenza about his new duties, and I will let you guys decide when to tell the team.”

With that, Taylor excused her and she walked towards the murder room. All kinds of thoughts were swimming through her head. None of them were bad, in fact they were all about her and Andy and the fact that they were not only together, but they were free to be together. No more worries about our boss finding out, or her marriage to Jack, or Rusty’s approval. Everything that once held her back was suddenly gone and it felt as if she were as light as a feather. Walking into the murder room, she couldn’t help but smile. Her team seemed to notice her different mood because they were all staring at her as she said good morning to everyone. 

She knew she would be able to tell the team now. Seeing Andy made her realize that she wanted everyone to know that they were together. She felt excited, free, and daring…Sharon strode right up to Andy and grabbed him by the collar. They looked into each other’s eyes, each asking each other if this was okay. When they were in agreement, Andy brought his lips down to hers. His hands went around her waist and hers went around his neck. They drew apart and just smiled at each other. 

In the background, they could hear Provenza grumbling, “It’s about time those idiots did something.”

Tao turned to Sanchez and said, “You go get the money and I will figure out who won.”


	3. The Proof Is In The Pictures

As it turned out, Sykes won the pool and nobody could figure out how she knew.

“I figured they wouldn’t get together until after the Captain got divorced and adopted Rusty. Then I figured she would wait for some stability in her new life before they began,” she said while taking in the shocked expressions of her teammates, “Plus, I figured the Lieutenant would get her something for Christmas that would make her realize how much he liked her.”

“So you’re telling me,” Provenza said while pointing a finger at her, “that you were able to just…figure it out? I thought you were supposed to be the dense one?”

Tao laughed as he handed Amy her winnings and he could see Sanchez just shaking his head. Buzz was in the corner, at his desk, looking on as Provenza angrily sat in his chair and started working on his crossword. Sharon and Andy had gone into her office to talk right after their kiss, and had yet to come out. 

Sharon’s Office

“Well, that was one hell of a way to tell them,” Andy chuckled.

“I’m sorry,” Sharon blushed, “I was just so excited. Taylor had already prepared our paperwork and was waiting for us to fill it out. Apparently he was going to reprimand us for not reporting it last year.”

“Last year? But what stopped him?” Andy asked thinking back to the events of last year. 

They had definitely been close last year after the wedding. They had gone out to dinner almost every night for weeks to follow, so he could see why Taylor would think it had started back then. Hell, I wanted it to start back then. I just hadn’t realized I loved her yet.

“Mmm, it seems your partner stuck up for us,” she smiled at him, “He told Taylor that nothing was going on.”

Andy walked closer to her and brought his hands to her hips, “I guess that means we own him one.”

Sharon brought her head to rest on his shoulder and her arms around his waist, “I guess so.”

Andy smiled down at her head on his shoulder and brought his lips to the crown of her hair. They were both content to just stand there in each other’s arms. They didn’t have to rush off or worry about any one seeing them. They were together. A knock on the door had Sharon lifting her head from his shoulder to beckon whomever it was inside. She stayed in his arms and simply looked towards the door as Tao came in.

“Sorry to interrupt, Captain, but we have a dead body,” he said quickly before retreating back into the murder room.

Kissing her one last time, Andy let her go and headed for the door, “See ya in a bit, Cap.”

Grinning like a fool, Andy closed the door behind him just in time to hear her say, “Stay out of trouble, Lieutenant.”

Sharon walked over to her desk and grabbed her purse. Looking inside, she found the envelope that Jack had left at her place last night. Now that the team was off at a crime scene, she would have a couple minutes to look through the pictures. Even if Jack was an ass and these pictures were creepy, they still captured precious moments between her and Andy. She wasn’t able to get very far before she was bombarded by phone calls from the chief.

About two hours later, Sharon had already briefed Chief Taylor on the case and the team was on their way back. The body had already been taken to the morgue, and she was just waiting for Andy to get back before she went to talk to Morales. Just as she signed off on a potential press release, Provenza and Andy walked into the murder room followed by the rest of the team. Julio and Mike were carrying a variety of different computer equipment, Amy and Andy were carrying boxes of evidence, Buzz had his camera and laptop, and Provenza headed straight for her office. 

“Captain, we have everything here,” he said coming to a stop in front of her desk, “Tao is going to take Sanchez down to the lab with him to take care of some of the evidence. Buzz is going to upload the crime scene footage, and Amy and I are going to work on the background of our victim. I am guessing you and Flynn are going to the morgue?”

Trying to hide her smile, Sharon nodded, “Yes, thank you, Lieutenant. When we get back I will want an update.”

Bowing his head, Provenza gestured for Sharon to go first out the door. As he was picking his head up, an envelope on the side of her desk with a few pictures pouring out of it caught his attention. The one on top was of her and Flynn on the beach, and the one under it seemed to be of them at a restaurant. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Provenza quickly looked away and left her office. He would have to check those out a little later. 

“Andy, would you accompany me to the morgue please?” Sharon asked while already heading towards the elevators, “Mike, you and Buzz can start on the computers after you get back from the lab. Julio, Amy and Lieutenant Provenza, I want to know everything about our victim by the time I get back.”

“Captain,” Amy said as she grabbed a folder off of her desk and presented it to her, “this is the preliminary information on our victim, Samantha Arias.”

“Thank you, Amy,” she said as she resumed her trek to the morgue, with Andy on her heels. 

Once they were in the elevator, Andy pulled her into his side and kissed the top of her head. When she looked up at him, he placed another kiss on her nose. She was giggling and shaking her head when he pulled back.

“What’s so funny?” he chuckled.

“I’m just thinking about how great it is to be able to do this with you,” she sighed. 

Pulling her tighter to his side, Andy leaned his head against hers. 

“Well, I am pretty great,” he supplied, wincing when her hand met his chest, “Ouch.”

“I will admit that you have your moments,” she laughed at his attempt to look hurt, “I just can’t believe that we are able to be together here, without having to worry about somebody figuring it out and turning us in. Oh! That reminds me, you need to sign off on our disclosure papers.”

Nodding down at her, Andy assured her that he would get it done. They heard the elevator ding and stepped out into the hallway outside the morgue. Andy quickly put on his smock before he helped Sharon with hers, placing another kiss on her neck as he finished tying the string behind her back. Giving him a bright smile, Sharon led the way into the morgue.

Murder Room

“Sykes did you figure out where our victim worked?” Provenza asked from his desk.

“She worked for a small mom and pop restaurant,” Sykes said as she finished adding a few more papers to the victim’s file, “Apparently she has been working there part time while she attends night classes at a community college.”

“We will need to know when the owners saw her last,” Provenza supplied before he turned to Julio, “Sanchez, does anything stick out from her records?”

“Nothing sir,” Julio stated, “she has normal credit activity for a 23 year old trying to make it through college. Plus, none of the tenants in the apartment complex near her remember seeing anything out of the ordinary.”

Rolling his eyes, Provenza stood from his chair, “Why can’t we have a murder where the murderer just came to us?”

“Because we would be unemployed, Lieutenant,” Amy said while working on the murder board.

“Why thank you, Sykes,” Provenza growled, “I never thought I would get an answer to my ever so rhetorical questions.”

Julio and Mike did nothing to hide their grins as Amy took a moment to turn around to face Provenza.

“Anytime Lieutenant. I figured I should help you answer them now that you are running low on time to ask them.”

Both Mike and Julio were laughing full out and Buzz was grinning at his laptop, trying to stay out of the way. After getting over his initial shock, Provenza looked at his Captain’s office and thought back to the envelope that he had seen in there. It seemed to be absolutely full of pictures, and he couldn’t help but wonder what they all were. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, he approached the office quickly and opened the door. He went straight for the envelope and snatched it off the desk. He shut the door behind him and went back to his desk.

“What did you grab?” Julio asked.

“None of your business,” he said putting the envelope on his desk.

“I think that also means it’s none of your business either, Lieutenant,” Buzz fired back.

“Oh, shut up, Buzz! Would somebody just fire him already?!” 

Curiosity got the better of them, and they were soon all gathered around Provenza’s desk as he pulled out the stack of close to 150 photos. The first few were similar to the ones he had seen earlier, and showed Sharon and Andy on the beach and at different restaurants. The next batch were of the two of them coming out of a movie theatre, arm in arm, and Andy’s jacket draped over her shoulders. She had her head tilted back and was laughing at the sky while Andy was watching her with love flooding his features.

“Aww! They are adorable together,” Sykes cooed.

“They are not adorable. They are idiots,” Provenza grumbled, continuing to flip through them.

The next few were of Andy, Sharon, and Rusty. They were out bowling, and Andy had his arms around Sharon stopping her from bowling as Rusty began to bowl for her. Both of the guys were laughing as Sharon just stood there. After they went bowling, it looked as if they went out for ice cream, because they were wearing the same clothes. While Rusty was at the counter, Sharon and Andy were sitting next to each other, and she had her head on his shoulder. 

“And they just now started dating?” Tao scoffed, “Maybe we should rethink this pool thing.”

“The pool was for when they would start dating, and we all know that the Captain wouldn’t start dating without reporting it,” Amy stated while bringing her hand to rest against her pocket with the pool winnings.

“Yeah, yeah, we know Sykes. You won,” Provenza said as he continued to flip through the photos.

Most of the photos remaining in the pile were of Andy and Sharon with their kids, and some of them were even of Emily and Ricky from Christmas. What seemed weird was that they were all taken from a distance, and a few of them had everybody in them, so the big question was: who took the photos? When they got to a series of photos that were clearly taken of the Captain’s condo from through the window, they began to doubt the source of these photos.

“Was somebody following the Captain?” Buzz asked.

“It looks like it, Buzz,” Julio said a bit preoccupied with trying to think of where the camera guy could have taken the photos from.

“Where did you find these again?” Tao looked to Provenza.

“She had them on her desk. They were already opened and it looked like she had gone through a few of them, but not all of them,” Provenza said as a frown continued to etch itself on his face.

“I think we should have these printed and swabbed,” Amy whispered studying the picture of the Captain and Rusty relaxing on the couch in her condo.

“If she hasn’t done anything, why should we?” Provenza jumped in.

His opinion quickly changed however when he was greeted with the next series of pictures. All of them were of their Captain in various stages of undress in front of her bedroom balcony door. The first couple were of the same night and showed her unbuttoning her shirt and heading for the bathroom. The next few were to the same effect, but when they reached the final few photos, they saw their Captain in nothing but her underwear, going through her drawers. Provenza quickly covered the photos and placed them back into the envelope.

“Well, we definitely have to do something about these,” Provenza stated as he stood up and started pacing. 

“Do you think she knows who took them?” Amy asked as she carefully picked up the envelope to look for some kind of clue as to where they came from. 

“I don’t even think she knows about all of them,” Tao interjected, “if she did, we would be trying to handle an IA investigation into the shooting of this guy.”

“We need to let her know,” Buzz said, looking away from the envelope of pictures that showed his nearly naked boss. 

“It looks like they were taken from the building across the way,” Julio spoke up, “Which means this guy has access to the building and a damn good camera.”

They were still going on and on about what to do when Sharon and Andy came around the corner. They were discussing the results of the preliminary autopsy exam, but when they entered the murder room the team was around Provenza’s desk and the man in question was pacing near-by. 

“Did you guys find something on Samantha Arias?” Sharon asked as she took in their varying expressions. 

Amy looked nervous, Mike was cautious, Julio was turning red with rage, Provenza looked pissed off, and Buzz was blushing as if he were embarrassed to be looking at her. She turned to Andy to see he was just as confused as she was.

“Uh, Captain,” Provenza’s voice drew their attention back to the team, “I may have seen the envelope of pictures on your desk and brought them out here to share with the team-”

“Lieutenant,” she interrupted him, “while I do not condone you looking through my belongings, I will pass it off as pure curiosity. It would seem that Jack had Andy and I followed to prove that there was something going on between us. As nothing malicious has come of them and Andy and I have reported our relationship, I don’t think there is anything to be done. They are just harmless photos.”

“They are not harmless, Ma’am,” Julio said standing up, “You have somebody following you taking private pictures of you.”

“Julio, I know that he had me followed, but the fact that we were out in public and really anybody could have seen us…I just don’t see the harm in it. He probably hired a PI to see what dirt he could dig up on me, that’s it.”

At that point, each member of the team looked at each other in understanding. She hasn’t gone through all of them. 

Mike seemed to voice this concern as he asked her, “Captain, have you gone through all the photos?”

“Well, no, I-” Sharon stopped abruptly, “I was only able to go through the first few batches. What are you trying to say, Mike?”

“Not all of the pictures were taken in public areas, Captain,” Amy spoke up.

“What do yo-” she was stopped when Provenza held up a hand.

“Sharon,” he said softly, “there are a few photos in there of your condo, and some of them are of you…uhhh, well, you are…”

Seeing he was at a loss for words, Sanchez picked up the envelope and approached them. When he was only a few feet from them, he carefully pulled out the last few photos and wordlessly handed them to his Captain. From his position beside her, Andy couldn’t quite see what the picture was. They all watched as the Captain silently flipped through the pictures of her and Rusty on the couch. When she got to the ones of her undressing, she paused and just stood there.

“Captain, are-” Amy was cut off as Sharon grabbed the envelope from Sanchez and headed straight for her office. 

Her door slammed shut and the blinds were flicked closed. They could all tell that she was about ready to kill somebody, and they would all be right behind her. Andy looked around and silently pleaded somebody to give him some answers. It seemed that Tao took pity on him and began to tell him about all of the photos.

“Yeah, I know,” Andy said confused, “I saw them last night after Jack left, so what?”

“The ‘so what’ part of this is that the last few pictures are of your girlfriend’s condo, and the very last one are of her bedroom,” Provenza scoffs. 

“So this son of a bitch has been in her condo?!” Andy yelled.

“No, you idiot!” Provenza growled, “Whoever this is took the photos through her window, and they may have caught her undressing a few times.”

“WHAT?!” Andy screamed, beginning to shake. 

Provenza was about to tell him to calm the hell down when they were interrupted by Chief Taylor walking into the murder room. 

“I need to talk to the Captain and you, Lieutenant Flynn,” he said without an ounce of levity in his voice before walking towards Sharon’s office.

The rest of the team looked at each other and waited with baited breath to find out what was going on. They were each coming up with ways to kill Jack and dispose of the body before Taylor could walk out of that office. This was going to be a long day.


	4. A Warning Given

Sharon was furious as she took in the images in front of her. Throwing them onto her desk, she reaches for her phone and began to dial Jack’s number. When she heard his voice on the other end of the line asking her to leave her name and her number, she slammed the phone back down on the receiver. She couldn’t believe that he would stoop this low. 

A knock on her door caught her attention, “Come in,” she said a bit harshly. 

Chief Taylor walked into her office followed by a confused and furious Andy.

“What can I do for you Chief?” she asked as she stood and gestured to the chairs in front of her desk, “If you need out disclosure report, I can have Andy sign it right now.”

“Actually, Captain,” Taylor said as he sat down, “I just received a package that I would like to discuss with you.”

“A package?” Sharon looked down at the envelope in front of her and shook her head. 

First these pictures and now some mysterious package…What was going on?

“Yes,” he sighed, “I got an envelope with quite a few pictures of you and Lieutenant Flynn, but I can see that you got one similar to it,” he pointed to the envelope on her desk.

“Jack dropped it off last night when he showed up drunk,” she tried to say as calmly as possible, “I had no idea he would send them to you as well, sir.”

Andy looked at Sharon before turning to Taylor, “Look Chief, we gave you our notice before you got the pictures and I can assure you that nothing happened before last night.”

“The pictures of you two are not the problem, Lieutenant,” Taylor waited for Sharon to look at him before he continued, “The last few pictures of you, Captain, are the problem.”

“He sent those to you too?!” She choked out while pounding her fists against the table. 

“As much of an ass I know your ex-husband can be, I don’t think he sent them to me,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter, “This came with the pictures.”

Sharon reached out and carefully grabbed the very corner of the letter. Andy got up from his seat and walked behind her desk to look at the paper that she held. 

Sharon began to read aloud.

I was asked to take these pictures of Captain Sharon O’Dwyer Raydor in order to prove that she was unfaithful towards her ex-husband. While taking these pictures, I learned that her ex had no right to ask me to do this considering his colorful past; however, I also learned something else. Sharon Raydor is not where she deserves to be. Why is she happy with a recovering alcoholic when she just got away from one? 

I sent this package to you in hopes that you would bring a stop to this relationship that is so blatantly against the rules. How can you condone a relationship between a subordinate and his superior? If you do not do something about the relationship between Lieutenant Andrew Flynn and Captain Sharon Raydor, I will.

Sincerely,   
Her Guardian Angel

Putting the letter down on her desk, Sharon brought her hands to her face. This was a nightmare. Leave it to Jack to hire a crazy stalker as a PI.

“As you can see, Captain,” Taylor stood, “These are not just some harmless pictures. I will call downstairs and get somebody on this-”

“Wait,” Andy interrupted, “Why are you passing this off to another division? She is one of us, and this psycho is also threatening me. Major Crimes can handle this.”

“If I remember right, Major Crimes already has a case to work on,” Taylor replied caustically.

Sharon had had enough of the two of them going back and forth, “Chief, I do not believe that this letter warrants an investigation at this point. The letters from Wade Weller were a lot more serious than this one. If we receive another letter, then we will deal with it then. Until that happens, Lieutenant, we do have a case to solve. Thank you, Chief.”

With that said, Sharon excused everyone from her office and walked into the murder room. The team looked at her and waited for some kind of response from her. She could tell that they wanted her to talk about the pictures that they had brought to her attention, but at that point she was done talking about them. Instead, she launched straight into the case. 

“What do we have on Samantha Arias?” 

Her team seemed to take the hint and they all rushed into their explanations of their victim. She had a normal record and nothing stuck out except for an ugly breakup about a month ago. After Tao found the address of the ex-boyfriend, Sharon sent Andy and Provenza to go pick him up. By the time they brought him back, the rest of the team had come up with more evidence against the ex, Jonathan Seymour. Apparently he had an arrest record larger than Flynn’s jacket. After Sharon and Julio interviewed Jonathan, they got Hobbs in to make a deal. 

“I think that case wrapped itself up quite nicely,” Provenza said as he finished up the last of his paperwork, “We actually solved a case in only a single work day.”

“In all fairness,” Tao said, as he sat down, “the boyfriend wasn’t that smart.”

DDA Hobbs walked into the murder room rolling her eyes, “I think that guy needs to learn when to shut up.”

“Ah, but the ones who don’t shut up make our lives a lot easier Hobbs,” Provenza smirked.

“You didn’t have to listen to all of his rambling,” Hobbs said, “Where is the Captain by the way?”

“She’s in her office, Ma’am,” Julio said without looking up from his report.

“I think Lieutenant Flynn just went in there to drop off his report,” Amy supplied with a smile.

“Ookayy,” Hobbs drew out as she saw the weird looks that were being passed around the room, “I’m just going to give her these files and then be on my way.”

As Hobbs turned towards the Captain’s office, she noticed that the blinds were drawn and both door were shut. She knocked on the door and went in without waiting for a response. When she looked into the room, what she saw made her stop in her tracks and almost drop the files in her hands. Andy was sitting on Sharon’s desk and she was standing between his legs. They were lightly kissing each other and small giggles were coming from Sharon.

Andrea cleared her throat and watched as they only slightly pulled apart, “I just wanted to give you these files, Sharon, but I can see that you are a bit busy.”

“Well, yeah actually, we are,” Andy said as he tugged Sharon back to him.

Sharon chuckled and smacked his chest, but she stayed in his embrace and beckoned Andrea towards them.

“Thank you, Andrea.”

“No problem,” Hobbs smiled while gesturing between the two on the desk, “When did this happen?”

“Just last night,” Sharon said as she looked down into Andy’s smiling face. 

“Well, congratulations you two and I will leave you alone,” she winked at them as she left.

Andrea turned around and saw Julio and Tao failing to stifle a grin.

“I would not go in there for a while,” she said before she turned and left the office.

“Ye gods,” Provenza grumbled, “I do not want to know what those two idiots are doing in there.”

“Good Lieutenant, because we don’t want to share,” Sharon laughed, coming out of her office with Andy right behind her, “We are all done for tonight, so you can all go home.”

Later that night

Sharon and Andy were curled up on the couch next to each other while Rusty was on the chair across from them. He was telling them a story about working on Badge of Justice, and Sharon was trying hard not to laugh at Andy’s obvious frustration with the term “Mike’s Show.” By the time Rusty was ready for bed, Sharon had her head on Andy’s shoulder and was battling against the iron clasps of sleep. Everyone said their ‘goodnights,’ and Rusty quickly rushed off towards his room.

“I don’t want to move,” Sharon groaned, burying her face into Andy’s neck.

Grinning like an idiot, Andy kissed the top of her head, “I can tell you from experience, falling sleep sitting up is the worst position to wake up from.”

“I know,” she hummed, “but I am just so comfortable here.”

Andy tightened his hold around her waist and kissed her forehead, “Sharon?”

“Mhmm?”

“Can we talk about something?” Andy asked nervously.

Picking her head up off of his shoulder, Sharon looked at him seriously, “I think I know what this is about, Andy. It’s nothing to worry about.”

Shaking his head, Andy took in a deep breathe, “How can you say that it is nothing? This guy followed you, took intimate pictures of you, and sent your boss copies of those pictures with a threatening letter!”

Andy watched as she quietly stood and began pacing the space in front of the couch. She seemed to be debating whether or not to say something, so be grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. 

Holding both of her hands, he waited for her to meet his eyes before he spoke again, “What is it, Sharon? I know you want to say something, so say it.”

“Andy, when I told Chief Taylor that the letters from Wade Weller were more serious, I meant it and he agreed,” Sharon watched as Andy’s face hardened.

“I never saw the letters that he sent you,” Andy said quietly, “Were they really that bad?”

“The first one wasn’t too bad,” she sighed, “They decided to treat it as a more serious threat since we had been getting the ones to Rusty as well.”

“I know that you don’t think this is as serious as those letters, but I would feel a lot better if you at least thought about some kind of protection,” Andy said as he pulled her down onto his lap.

“I thought you were my protection?” she asked teasingly.

“I am, but my boss doesn’t like me to hover too much and she is stubborn as hell,” he rolled his eyes, “I don’t think she would let me abandon my own work to watch her back.”

“I am sure she wouldn’t mind you hanging around after work,” she smiled, “but I would have to agree with her at work. If my memory serves me right, she does carry a gun as well.”

Andy shook his head, “She is also pretty good with a fire extinguisher.”

Sharon snuggled into his embrace and laughed as he started kissing all over her face. She tried to get away as his hands started tickling her sides. When he wouldn’t stop, she tried getting up, only to be thrown down on the couch and tickled mercilessly. Luckily for her, there was a knock at the door that made him reluctantly stop assaulting her sides. She quickly climbed off the couch still lightly giggling to herself. 

Opening the door, she gasped at what she saw, “Andy!” 

Hearing the distress in her voice, Andy sprung up from the couch and headed for the door. Sitting in the hallway just outside her door was a bouquet of dead roses and a large photo of her and Andy asleep on the couch from last night. There was a large red ‘x’ over Andy’s face in the photo. Beneath the photo were the words, “No more warnings” in what appeared to be blood. 

Sharon looked back at Andy who already had his phone up to his ear, “Are you calling the team?”

“Yeah,” he said, “Why don’t you call downstairs and see if you can find out who brought all this up here.”

Sharon nodded and headed towards her purse. Looking back at Andy as he was talking to somebody on the other end of the line, Sharon hoped that they would find this guy and fast. She had almost lost Rusty, and now it was Andy’s life on the line. When she got a hold of Jack, she was going to need to make sure that all deadly weapons were well out of reach.


	5. Finding a Psychopath

The team had arrived a few minutes after the bouquet showed up at her door, and SID had already collected the picture and the roses. The blood turned out to be human, and matched the saliva found on the envelope that Taylor received, but it would take a while for the DNA to run through the database. Sharon still had to call Jack and get him to come down to the station, but that would have to wait until the three of them were cleared to leave. Rusty was upset with her for not telling him that she was threatened, and she was half tempted to tell him that it was the same feeling she had when he neglected to tell her about the 15 or so letters that he had received. 

According to Tao and Buzz, the guy who delivered the package had kept his head down and had actually been waiting in the garage when they got home. The car that the suspect was driving didn’t have any plates and the windows were heavily tinted. It looked like the only way to identify this guy would be to talk to Jack, and both Sharon and Andy knew that he wasn’t going to just tell them. He would want something in return for the information. He was a manipulator and would make sure that Sharon paid for whatever information he gave her. 

By the time everything was wrapped up, Sharon was ready to go into the office to call and wake Jack up. She was out on the balcony waiting for the last of SID to exit her home before she would have to say good bye to Rusty and head back into work. Andy spotted her and quietly walked out to join her. He slipped his arms around her waist and just held her. Bringing his lips to her head, he lightly kissed her hair and waited for her to talk. He knew that she just needed to think right now and as soon as she sorted through her thoughts, she would let him know. 

“I am debating whether or not to let you and Julio go get Jack instead of me calling him in,” she hummed while leaning her head back to rest on his shoulder.

“I like that idea,” he chuckled, “but we may never figure out who is doing this before Julio and I kill him.”

“That’s the dilemma that I am facing,” she hummed. 

“We will find this guy, and deal with Jack for only as long as we have to,” he kissed her temple, “Then Julio and I will dispose of the body and make sure that you never hear of it.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked Julio,” she teased and watched as his face took on a look of fake shock.

“Well then,” he huffed, “I guess I will go get Julio to come and hug you and hold you and take care of you.”

As he started to pull away smirking at her, she turned around and pulled him back to her, “I may like Julio, but I love you.”

Andy pulled her closer to him and held her close, I love you too, Sharon,” he whispered into her ear, “I love you so much.”

They stayed together for a while until Rusty came out onto the balcony and called her name, “Sharon?”

“What is it, honey?” she asked as she broke free from Andy’s embrace and walked towards her son.

“Are you okay?” Rusty asked timidly, “Like, really okay? Cause I know that you are going to say that you are fine, but I mean…This delivery, it’s creepy.”

“Rusty,” she placed her hand on his shoulder, “I am fine. Sure this is creepy and I want this guy found, but I don’t feel like it is something to worry too much about. The team is on it, and as soon as Jack tells me who he is, then it will be easier to track him down.”

Rusty pulled her into a hug suddenly, “I know that I was difficult with the Stroh situation and the letters, but please don’t be like me. Please let Flynn and the rest of the team protect you.”

“I can protect myself,” she felt him stiffen in her arms, “but I will also let them help.”

“I already lost one mom and that was for the best,” Rusty choked out, “but you are the mom that I don’t want to lose.”

She felt him pull her closer to him as tears started to build in both of their eyes. Andy watched as the two of them just held each other and waited for them to say whatever they felt needed to be said. 

“I know now how you felt when I got all those letters,” Rusty pulled away to look at her, “It wasn’t really the same when I found out you also got letters from Weller because he was already gone. Now I know what it is like thinking that somebody you love is being threatened.”

“Oh, Rusty,” she tried to brush a strand of hair from his face and watched as he playfully dodged it, “I never wanted you to feel like that, and I promise you that I will be perfectly fine.”

“Trust me kid,” Andy said seriously from his spot leaning against the railing, “If this guy even comes within a mile of her, I will not hesitate to take him out.”

“If I’m not mistaken, you were technically the one that was threatened,” Sharon replied, “not me.”

“That’s correct,” Andy pushed off the railing and approached mother and son, “But I am not the one with a crazy maniac stalking and taking naked pictures of me.”

Sharon shot him a scathing glare at the mention of the pictures, and at Rusty’s gasp, he realized that they never told him about the pictures. 

“Did he just say naked pictures?” Rusty said as he looked between the two.

“Rusty-” Sharon tried to calm him down.

“How the hell did he get naked pictures of you?” Rusty yelled, “Unless you two...uh, you know…sent each other pictures of-”

“Rusty! First off, watch your language, and second, that is not what happened,” Sharon said as a blush crept across her cheeks. 

“Somebody was taking pictures from across the street and through the balcony windows here, and in her bedroom,” Andy supplied, deciding to just tell him the truth.

“Did Jack ask this creep to do that? Cause that is sick,” Rusty said, disgusted at the news that somebody had violated his mother’s privacy.

“That’s what we are going to find out, kid,” Andy said, and he stepped up to Sharon’s side and held her to him.

“Can I go with you guys to the station?” Rusty asked.

“Honey,” Sharon said shaking her head, “I don’t think that is a good idea.”

“But Sharon, I don’t like being in the dark like this,” Rusty complained, “Plus, if this guy took pictures of the condo, do you really want to leave me here alone knowing that he could be watching me?” he added with a smirk.

Sharon shook her head and then turned to Andy, “You know I think you and the team are rubbing off on him. Okay, Rusty, you can come.”

Rusty quickly went to go get changed before she could change her mind, and ten minutes later they were headed out the door and down to the garage. They ended up taking Andy’s car and the ride was generally quiet as they listened to music, and casual conversation flowed occasionally, when they wanted to avoid talking about the stalker. When they pulled into the station parking lot, they all made their way up to the murder room and found everyone at work. 

“Thank you all for coming in,” Sharon addressed the team, “I am sorry for dragging you all in here like this.”

“It’s alright, Captain,” Amy smiled at her, “You’re safety is more important right now.”

Provenza rolled his eyes before speaking up, “We are helping her, Sykes. No need to suck up.”

“We will get this guy, Ma’am,” Julio spoke up as he watched Sykes glare at the Lieutenant.

“I know we will,” she nodded, “but right now I have to go call my ex-husband in here and hope that he is willing to talk to us about who he hired.”

“If he doesn’t want to come in, Julio and I can go get him, Captain,” Tao offered.

Sharon allowed a small smile to sweep across her lips before she shook her head, “As much as I would love to take you up on that offer, we are going to need Jack coherent to answer questions and I am already going to have a hard enough time trying not to shoot him.”

As she went to her office to call Jack, Rusty turned to look at the occupants of the Murder Room.

“So what is really going on?” he asked looking directly at Provenza.

“I think that is a question for the Captain,” Proovenza answered a bit awkwardly.

“I already know about the pictures, and I do mean all of them, but what was with the threat towards Andy?”

Sighing, Provenza stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder, “All we know is that this guy sent a letter along with copies of the pictures to Taylor, and the letter basically told Taylor to break Flynn and the Captain up or else.”

“Sooo, the ‘or else’ is still to be seen,” Rusty nodded.

Just as everything was starting to work itself out, Jack had to come back into Sharon’s life and bring some maniac with him. Rusty looked back to her office, and could see her talking into the phone.

“Jack, I don’t care if I just woke you up, you need to get in here and explain what is going on,” Sharon said into the phone.

“Sharon it’s too early for this,” Jack yawned into the receiver, “call me back in a couple of hours.”

“Jack!” she yelled, “You have two options. One, you drag your butt out of bed and be in my office within the next hour. Or two, I have two of my detectives come drag your butt in here.”

“Come on, Sharon,” Jack scoffed, “You can’t be serious! You are really going to send your fucking boy toy Lieutenant to come pick me up? I’m guessing Flynn is in the office with you right now! What the hell are you guys even doing at the office at this hour anyways? Did he already get bored of you in the bedroom and decide to mix it up at the office?”

“Jack,” she fumed, “You have no right to talk to me like that, and as always, you are completely wrong. The reason I am in my office at this ungodly hour is because the PI that you hired to take those pictures of Andy and me has started to stalk me. Now, I will get you here one way or another to get answers from you Jack. If you are not here within the hour, I will send my people to get you.”

“Alright, alright! I am leaving now,” Jack growled before hanging up on her.

Sharon slammed her phone back down on the receiver and counted to ten. She would have to lock her gun in her desk drawer before he got here, or Jackson Raydor would cease to exist. While he was an inconsiderate ass at times, he did show up on his own and without having to be led to her office. Her team watched him with hate in their eyes as he quickly made it to her office. Andy met him at her door and opened it for him before trying to follow him in.

Sharon brought her hand up, “Andy, I’ve got this.”

He looked at the man behind her before nodding stiffly and retreating to his desk. Sharon shut the door and blinds and went to sit behind her desk. Jack was still standing in front of her desk and was smiling at her.

“It looks like you finally got the mutt on a leash,” he joked. 

“Jack, I want to know who this PI is,” she got straight to the point. 

“Now hold on, Shar-on,” Jack walked around her desk to stand next to her, “What do I get if I give you this information?”

“How about I don’t shoot you?” she said in a sickly sweet voice.

Chuckling, Jack leaned down and looked into her eyes, “That’s not good enough.”

“I’m not playing this game with you, Jack,” she said.

“Well then,” Jack stood up, “Good luck getting in contact with this guy.”

“If you walk out that door, Jack, I will not stop my team from doing anything to you,” she warned, Darth Raydor façade in place.

He stopped and turned around to face her again, before he walked back around her desk and stood next to her.

“How about you give me something I want and I give you what you want?” Jack proposed looking down at her.

“This isn’t about bargaining,” she said calmly, “The idiot that you hired turned out to be a psychopath who wants to follow me around. Did you even look at the pictures that you gave me?”

“Of course I did!” Jack yelled, “Why do you think I showed up at your place drunk?! I took one look at those and I knew that you were sleeping around with Flynn!”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Sharon inhaled deeply before speaking, “None of those pictures showed Andy and I sleeping together. Plus, if you had looked at all the photos you would have realized that your PI was more interested in me than getting your proof.”

“What the hell are you talking about, Sharon?” Jack scoffed, “All of those pictures are of you and Flynn living it up and enjoying being unfaithful to me.”

“What about the last group of pictures, Jack?” She stood up from her chair and leaned in near him, “Did you just skip over those?”

“I’m guessing they were just more of you two, and they probably have the two of you in bed,” Jack shook his head in disgust.

“You are half right about that, Jack,” she reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope with the pictures before pulling out the last few, “My bedroom is involved, but Andy isn’t.”

She handed him the pictures and watched as he stared wide eyed at the images in his hands. He flipped through a couple of them, taking time to study each one.

“You still look great, Sharon,” he said.

“Jack!” she smacked him hard on the right arm, “The guy that you hired is taking naked pictures of me, and all you can say is that I look good?!”

“Well, I haven’t seen you like this in years, Sharon. So forgive me if I admire my hot wife,” Jack chuckled without looking up from the pictures.

“Ex-wife,” she corrected quickly before reaching for the pictures in his hands.

“Uh uh,” Jack pulled the photos out of her reach, “If I can keep these, then I will tell you everything you need to know.”

“No, Jack,” she reached for them again only to have them taken out of her reach again, “Jack, give them back.”

“Why? Are you saving them for Andy?” he sneered.

“No, they are evidence in a stalking,” she rolled her eyes, “now give them back before I have you arrested for tampering with evidence.”

Jack reluctantly handed them over, but as Sharon grabbed them, he grabbed her by the wrists.

“I will tell you everything about the PI for a kiss, Sharon,” he begged her with his eyes, “That’s all…a single kiss to remember old times by.”

“I already told you that the only thing you are getting from this is the freedom to live another minute longer,” she said a bit taken aback.

He stepped towards her and turned, effectively trapping her between her desk and him. He brought his hand up to her cheek to lightly brush his fingers against her skin. When Sharon went to protest, she saw the sadness and regret in his eyes. She had only seen this look once before, when he had hit her once, when he was extremely drunk. She watched as his eyes studied her face, and his hands continued to stroke her cheeks. 

“I never really thought much about my life without you,” he whispered, “I always thought that I would have you. I never wanted to lose you, but I guess I never showed you that.”

Sharon could feel tears in her eyes as she shook her head, “It’s too late, Jack. Please just tell me who this is.”

He nodded and took her hands in his, “His name is Jonathan Pierce. I met him a few years back when he was chasing after me for somebody I owed money to.”

“Thank you, Jack,” she choked out.

He smiled down at her before leaning in and placing a gentle kiss on her lips. Sharon pulled back when she felt it lasted longer than necessary, and brought her hands to rest on his chest. With a sad smile, he backed up and headed for the door. 

“I never meant for him to do this to you, Sharon,” he said softly, “I only wanted to believe that the reason that you divorced me was because there was somebody else…not because you finally realized that you had enough of me. I guess it was a little bit of both.”

With that said, Jack left her office, and Sharon collapsed into her chair. After all the years of wanting him to accept his mistakes and stay clean, he finally did but it was too late. They were done and there was now another man in her life. Two if she counted Rusty. A soft knock at her door startled her a bit as Andy walked in.

“Are you alright?” he asked as he circled behind the desk and bent down in front of her. 

She nodded before leaning forward and collapsing in his arms. Andy held her as she trembled and a few tears escaped her. He rubbed soothing patterns on her back and arms and waited for her to calm down. When she finally lifted her head, her eyes were slightly red and her cheeks had a little more color to them, but she still look beautiful. 

“The PI’s name is Jonathan Pierce,” she said softly, as he kissed the top of her head and helped her up into her chair.

“I will let the team know,” he brushed a strand of hair out of her face, “and then I will be right back.”

As he walked out of the office, Sharon prayed that they would find this man before she lost another man that she loved.


	6. Facing a Psychopath

The team had found Jonathan Pierce by the time that most of the city was up, and Sharon had sent Tao and Sykes to go pick him up. They were the most level-headed out of the team, and she wanted to be sure that nothing happened to jeopardize the conviction. Andy had made sure to call Andrea Hobbs and get her briefed on the case, and Provenza called the Chief to update him. Other than that, it was now a waiting game. 

“Any word on the warrant to search this guy’s house and car, Hobbs?” Julio asked as she walked by. 

“I left a message for a few of the judges,” she answered in a huff, “None of them have gotten back to me yet and it’s probably because none of them are in their offices yet. We should hear back soon, but don’t get your hopes up.”

“What’s wrong this time, Hobbs?” Provenza groaned as he leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head.

“I have a feeling that unless we get the right judge to sign off on it, they are just going to say that these photos have no standing in any type of legal matter,” she huffed, as she leaned against Flynn’s desk, who was still in Sharon’s office.

“Since when are naked pictures of somebody, against their wishes, worthless in court?” Julio snapped, “She had no idea that this PI was taking pictures of her, and he didn’t have the right to violate her privacy that way.”

“Ah,” Hobbs stopped his rant, “You just said the magic letters, P-I. Any judge that looks at this is going to say that since this guy has a license and was hired to look into infidelity, then he had every right to take pictures of her and her bedroom.”

“You can’t be serious!” Provenza yelled.

“I’m not saying that it will happen, Lieutenant,” Hobbs sighed, “I’m just saying that there is a strong possibility that it could happen.”

“Well, we can still bring the asshole in and ask him what the hell he thinks he’s doing,” Provenza stood and walked towards the break room to get another coffee. 

“And you say you don’t care about the Captain,” Julio teased as he stood to join him before turning to Hobbs, “Do you want a coffee?” 

“No,” she shook her head, “I think I am just going to pop in and talk to Sharon for a bit.”

Provenza shook his head before calling over his shoulder, “Flynn’s in there too. Say hello to our two residential idiots for all of us.”

Andrea’s eyebrows went up and she looked towards the closed blinds and door. They seemed to think that by keeping everything shut people wouldn’t know what they were doing, but they were so wrong. Everybody could probably guess that they were together and having the doors and blinds closed only made people imagine why they would be closed. She knew that after what she saw yesterday, she had some ideas of what they might be doing in there.

She knocked on the door and made sure she waited for Sharon to call her in before she opened the door, “I hope both of you are keeping your hands to yourself.”

Andy smirked, while Sharon blushed and tried to avoid eye contact with Andrea, “We weren’t doing anything wrong, Andrea,” Sharon said sheepishly.

“At least nothing that is wrong for two people who are dating to do,” Andy said, as Sharon moved to lean on the edge of her desk, “for two coworkers in the office, well…”

Sharon shot him a glare before she turned to look at her friend, “What can we do for you Andrea?”

“I was actually coming in here to tell you that I haven’t heard from a judge yet, but I should soon,” she watched as Sharon nodded sadly.

“No one is going to grant the warrant,” Sharon said, not a hint of questioning in her voice.

Andrea looked over to Andy, who seemed to think that Sharon was crazy, “I’m afraid that is a possibility.”

“Why?!” he yelled.

“Because this guy’s lawyer will just argue that he was doing his job as a PI,” Sharon said before she walked around her desk to sit in her chair, “Andy, could you please call Mike or Amy and get an ETA on their arrival?”

He hesitated a moment before nodding and reaching to grab her hand across the desk, “We will get him, Sharon. Don’t worry.”

His thumb gently caressed the tops of her knuckles before he smiled and quietly excused himself from her office. Andrea watched as Sharon slumped back into her chair and huffed out a breath. Andrea could tell that something was wrong with the Captain, so she took a seat in front of the desk and waited for her friend to spill.

“I need you to keep what I am about to tell you in this office,” Sharon said seriously.

“Of course, Sharon.”

“Taylor stopped by right before you, so that Provenza could brief him,” she paused before pulling an envelope out of her desk drawer, “He also brought this to me before the Lieutenant got a hold of him.”

Andrea grabbed the envelope and carefully opened it. She could see another stack of photos, and as she pulled them out, she noticed a sticky note attached to the top picture.

They are still together, Chief. I guess it’s my turn to do something about that.   
He will not take my love away from me.

“Sharon this note doesn’t look good,” Andrea placed the note on the desk and picked up the pictures.

They were just as bad as the last few from the first stack. Sharon was caught walking around her room in various stages of undress while she got ready for bed. What made her heart drop were pictures of Sharon lying in her bed asleep. Unlike all of the ones from before, these pictures had to have been taken from in her bedroom. Somebody would have had to stand over her while taking the pictures in order to get this angle. 

“Somebody was in your bedroom?” Andrea gasped.

Shaking her head, “Yes and no. Yes, somebody was in my bedroom, just not while I was there. No, they weren’t in there to take the actual photo. I think there are cameras in my bedroom.”

“Sharon,” she sat down in front of her friend, “I will make sure that we get the warrant for this guy’s place.”

“Thank you, Andrea,” she gathered the photos and put them back into the envelope, “The Chief made sure that a team began sweeping my condo for bugs. I should know soon enough if they found anything.”

“Why don’t you want to tell anybody?” Andrea asked.

“I don’t want Andy to worry,” she sighed, “If he does then he will try to protect me and it will just make this guy even more aggravated.”

Just then, Provenza opened the door, “Captain, the world’s creepiest PI is here.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Sharon stood up and turned to the DDA, “Thank you for helping, Andrea.”

“Anytime, Sharon,” she placed her hand on the Captain’s shoulder, “I’ll be in electronics, and I will let you know when I hear from a judge.”

Both women walked out of the office and into the Murder Room, where Jonathan Pierce was waiting. He looked right at Sharon as she walked towards the center of the room, and his eyes never left her. He moved to step forward, but was stopped by Julio, Andy, and Provenza who stepped in front of their Captain. Pierce moved his gaze to Andy and shook his head.

“I never understood why she started hanging out with another drunk,” Pierce said as he watched Andy’s lip twitch.

“Mr. Pierce,” Sharon cut in, “If you wouldn’t mind following Detective Sykes to the interview room, I will be there shortly.”

“With all due respect, Captain,” Pierce said as he remained in the same spot, “I would like to know why I am here.”

“You are here Mr. Pierce, because we have a few questions to ask you regarding a matter we are investigating,” Sharon stated coolly as the rest of the team watched on. 

Pierce stepped forward, “If you are only asking me simple questions, why am I being escorted to an interview room by a detective?”

“Because Mr. PI,” Provenza growled, “the real police have procedure to follow, and our Captain happens to love the rules.”

“Oh, I know what Sharon likes,” Pierce smiled at her, only to have the Major Crimes Squad push him back.

“Mr. Pierce,” Sharon brought out the Darth Raydor façade, “As I said before, please follow Detective Sykes to an interview room and I will be there soon.”

He looked away from her to look at the faces of her team. They all held varying levels of hatred and anger, but as Pierce’s gaze fell upon Flynn, he knew that the Lieutenant held more anger than he’d ever seen. Pierce gave a short nod and gestured Sykes to lead the way. The rest of the team watched as he walked away and disappeared around the corner towards the interview rooms.

“I don’t think you should go in there, Ma’am,” Julio said as he looked to Sharon, “He is obviously here to mess with us, and nothing else.”

“I agree with Julio,” Andy spoke up.

“Of course you do, you idiot,” Provenza rolled his eyes.

Andy spun around on his friend and started to point his finger at him when he felt Sharon’s hand on his arm.

“I appreciate everyone’s concern,” she said firmly, “however, the only way to get answers out of him is to make sure that he think he is getting what he wants. I have no intention of letting him feel in control, nor will I let him get under my skin. Mike, I want you in the interview room with me.”

Tao nodded and the rest of the team reluctantly followed suit. As they all headed towards electronics, Andy grabbed Sharon’s hand and held her back.

“I know that you think you can handle this, Sharon,” he gently caressed her hand, “But just know that I am right here if you need to talk…or if you need me to beat the crap out of somebody.”

His characteristic grin spread across his lips as she let out a small snort of laughter, “And that is exactly why I picked Mike and not you to accompany into the interrogation.”

“I wondered why you passed over me for Tao,” he teased, “I thought I was going to have to take out Tao as well.”

“I can promise you that I will never pass you up,” She smiled as she played with his tie.

“Good, because I don’t plan on letting you go anytime soon,” he placed a gentle kiss on the crown of her head, “Now let’s get to work.”

“Am I dreaming, or did you just decide to work instead of stand here and flirt?” she smiled with a false gasp.

“What can I say?” he smiled, “You are extremely hot when you’re in Darth mode.”

Slapping his arm, she smiled and walked off down the hall, very aware of the fact that his eyes were on her ass. She put a little extra swing to her hips as she turned around the corner and strutted towards the interview room. Tao nodded at her and opened the door, gesturing for her to go first. Once they were in the room, both of them took their seats across from Pierce, who looked all too pleased to see her.

“I’m surprised you didn’t bring Lieutenant Flynn with you, Sharon,” he said.

“Mr. Pierce,” Sharon took the folder from Tao, “Would you mind telling us if you took these photos?”

She laid the table and waited for his reaction. They had purposefully left out any and all revealing photos and only used the ones that Jack had given her. Pierce scanned the photos, and both Tao and Sharon watched as he seemed to be disappointed with the images in front of him. He pushed the photos away and looked up to the two police officers.

“Yes,” Pierce said with obvious frustration in his voice, “I did take these amongst others.”

“Amongst others?” Tao asked, faking confusion.

“Yes,” Pierce ground out, “But the Captain should know what I am talking about.”

Sharon tried not to shiver at the look that he was giving her, “I’m sorry, but these were the only photos that Jack gave me.”

She knew that if she acted as if the only photos she had seen were those that Jack gave her, Pierce would react irrationally. Hopefully that irrational response would help them get more information out of him.

“What about the others?” he suddenly yelled.

“I apologize, Mr. Pierce,” Sharon said calmly, “but these are the only photos that I received.”

“Well, you might want to worry about the photos that he kept for himself, Sharon,” Pierce warned. 

“And why is that?” she leaned back in her chair and waited for him to walk into the trap they were laying.

“Because he asked me to take pictures of you in your bedroom as well,” Pierce admitted, “And some of them would make any man want to keep them.”

“Are you telling me that you took compromising photos of me?” Sharon said in a low voice.

“Yes,” Pierce said before backtracking, “I am a PI and I was asked in investigate the possibility of an affair, so logically I took pictures of you in the bedroom.”

“And Jack…my ex-husband…h-he has these photos?” Sharon tried her hardest to act applaud and upset with the false news.

“It appears so,” Pierce said as he shook his head before he looked at her with remorse, “I’m sorry, Sharon. He hired me to do this, but once I realized that he hadn’t changed, I realized that you didn’t deserve this. He doesn’t deserve you.”

Recognizing the familiar words from the letter she received, she nodded to Tao who left the room to call Hobbs and check on the warrant.

“Where is he going?” Pierce asked, concern lacing his voice.

“You just confirmed my suspicions that Jack has been acting different, for a reason, around me,” Sharon lied to him, “I just gave Lieutenant Tao the go ahead to call him in.” 

“I never meant for him to keep those photos, Sharon,” He reached his hand out across the table and waited for her to take it.

She looked down at his hand before tentatively taking it, “What did you mean to happen? You took photos of me that were explicit in nature and you gave them to Jack. Why? Why would you do something like that?”

Sharon tried to guilt him into confessing his intentions, and based on the gentle squeeze of his hand, it was working.

“At first I only wanted to work for the money,” he sighed, “but then I saw you at work and at home. I saw you with your son and with you Lieutenant’s daughter and her children. I saw you strong and powerful here and relaxed and tender at your condo, or at the beach. I saw you in beautiful suits and dresses, and just your lingerie, and absolutely nothing, and I realized that nobody but me deserves you. That’s why I wanted Taylor to get rid of-”

Pierce cut himself off when he realized what he started to say, but Sharon was sure that they could definitely use what he said. 

“Please, finish your sentence, Mr. Pierce,” Sharon said as she tilted her head to the side, “That’s why you wanted Taylor to get rid of what...or should I ask who?”

Pierce shut down immediately, “I took the pictures while under contract with Jackson Raydor to investigate the possibility of an affair going on between you and Lieutenant Andrew Flynn. Every photo I took is covered under that contract.”

Sharon stood up and headed for the door, “I will keep that in mind when I talk to the DDA.”

“You know, Sharon?” Pierce said with a smile on his face as he waited for her to turn around and face him, “I am still under contract to investigate you.”

Sharon narrowed her eyes before smiling sweetly at him, “I am going to let you in on a little secret,” she stepped closer to the table that separated them, “When people threaten me, they usually have a very limited amount of free time before they find themselves behind bars.”

“Who says I was threatening you, Sharon?” Pierce smirked before he walked around the table and right up to her, “I think Lieutenant Flynn may need a few more close up shots, don’t you think?”

“If you threaten my people, you threaten me,” Sharon stepped forward and made sure that she stood to her tallest height, “I will not tolerate it.”

“Well,” Pierce looked down at her chest before looking back at her eyes, “I’ll be waiting when you want to talk again.”

At that moment, Tao came back to help move him along, and Pierce seemed to take the hint.

He was halfway out the door when he spun around, “By the way, I would really appreciate it if you wore the dark red lace lingerie more often. It really makes you look great,” and with that, he was gone.

“Mike,” Sharon hummed, “You may be the only level headed one left around here after that comment.”

“Trust me, Captain,” Tao scoffed, “Even I’m suppressing the urge to shoot him.” 

Sharon smiled while placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. They both headed back to electronics to face the team and the new information they had. Andy was the first out of electronics as they made it to the door.

“I’m going to kill that son of a bitch,” he growled.

“Not if I beat you to it,” Sharon said, “Now let’s figure out how to nail this creep.”


	7. Follow the Evidence

“I don’t understand why we can’t just go in there and arrest the idiot,” Andy complained as he watched the PI pace back and forth in the hotel lobby.

“Because we have to wait for word form Sykes and Tao to see if they can find anything,” Provenza said for the millionth time. 

“Yeah well, if they don’t find anything soon,” Andy growled, “I am going to go in there and shoot him and Jack before they can even blink.”

“You’re an idiot,” Provenza rolled his eyes, “I guess the Captain was right about wanting us to carry these bean bag guns.”

Andy watched as their psycho PI looked up, and walked over to Jack Raydor as he stepped off the elevator. They started to argue before Pierce shoved an envelope into Jack’s hands and walked away without another word. Andy turned to Provenza hoping to have some confirmation that Amy and Mike had found something, but Provenza shook his head.

“We’ll just have to follow him then,” Andy started the car, but was stopped by his partner.

“We need to figure out what he gave to Jack,” Provenza got out of the car, “We will let Julio follow him.”

Andy shook his head, but got out to follow his partner as he watched Julio’s car pull out and start tailing the suspect. He knew that they had to figure out what was in the package that Jack got, but he was hoping that somebody else could do that. Unfortunately, here he was, walking into a hotel lobby to talk to the lousy ex-husband of the woman he loves. The same man who hired the creep that has been spying on her for way too damn long.

“Lieutenants Flynn and Provenza,” Jack said sarcastically, “Let me guess, Sharon didn’t want to deal with me again, even though I am the one who called you,” he held up the envelope he had only just acquired.

“As always, your powers of perception are uncanny,” Provenza grumbled.

“We just need to know what he gave you,” Andy said impatiently.

“You’re lucky that I already agreed to help Sharon, or else I wouldn’t be doing anything to help you,” Jack growled, his face slowly turning red.

“You are the one who started this mess in the first place!” Andy matched his tone.

“I’m not the one who went around sleeping with another man’s wife,” Jack pointed his finger at him.

“Ex-wife! And we haven’t slept together,” Andy stepped forward to tower over Jack, “We didn’t even start dating until a few days ago.”

Provenza could see that both men were ready for a fight, so he stepped in between them and pushed Flynn back.

“We both know that you two are going to place the blame on the other, so why don’t we cut the bullshit and get right to the point,” Provenza held out his hand, “The envelope?”

Jack was still glaring at Andy, but he reluctantly handed the envelope over to Provenza, “I hope you don’t mind a frigid bitch in bed with you.”

Flynn lunged for him, but Provenza beat him to it, “Jack, I hope you don’t mind the sting of a bullet hitting you in the ass as you walk away.”

Jack took that as his cue to leave before the Lieutenant held true to his statement. Provenza continued to hold Flynn back until Jack was in the elevator and headed back up to another floor. They both walked back to the car, Flynn storming back to his side of the car and slamming the door shut as he threw himself into the seat. Provenza was sure that he heard him mutter something like “scumbag asshole” under his breath, but he ignored him and opened the envelope, and poured out the pictures that were inside.

The first few were taken by a camera inside her bedroom, and both Lieutenants cursed as their Captain was shown asleep in some, but nearly naked in others. They quickly flipped through them until they came to some of her stepping out of her car. She was in a garage that looked familiar, but they couldn’t really place it. There were several of her bent over trying to get stuff out of the backseat of her car, and even more of her leaning over to check her makeup in her side view mirror. 

Something suddenly occurred to Andy, “Isn’t she wearing this same outfit today?”

Provenza rolled his eyes, “How the hell should I know, Flynn! I am not the one who pays attention to her 24-7.”

Flynn shook his head and groaned, “No, I mean I think these pictures were taken today. Look,” he pointed to the small sign that they now recognized hung in the police department’s garage. 

“But how did he get in to the garage?” Provenza grabbed the picture from Flynn and held it out to get a better look.

“I guess we will have to ask the attendant,” Andy pulled out of the parking lot and took off towards the station.

 

Meanwhile…

 

Sharon was nervously waiting to hear back from Mike and Amy, about whether or not they had found anything in Pierce’s house. So far they were coming up empty handed, but she still hadn’t talked to Taylor about what SID found in her condo and Jack had called to tip them off to a meeting with Pierce. Maybe things were going to change and she would be able to arrest this creep. There was a knock at the door, and she called them in softly.

“Captain,” Taylor came in and shut the door behind him, “I have the report back from SID, and I think you need to see it now.”

He sat down in the chair across from her and she simply nodded, “I take it they found something.”

“Mhmm,” he handed her the official report before starting to brief her, “They swept your entire condo and found quite a few things. In addition to the camera we found hidden in a photo frame in your bedroom, they also found several other cameras throughout the condo as well as a few microphones.”

Sharon listens to him as she read the report in front of her, “They found cameras in every room?”

Taylor nodded, “I’m afraid so.”

Sharon threw the file down and huffed out a sigh of frustration, “Is there any way to link them back to Pierce?”

“SID said that the router they found in the condo next to yours would have allowed him to store pictures on to it and then send them to a computer somewhere else. They are working on tracing a transmission back to the computer,” he said as he watched her run her hand through her hair, “but it looks like he isn’t transmitting until around 5 pm each night.”

“Which would make sense since that is usually when I get home,” Sharon said softly just as another knock on her door caught her attention, “Come in.”

Andrea came in and took a seat next to the Chief, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but have you heard back from Amy and Tao?”

“Not yet,” Sharon gestured to the file now lying discarded on her desk, “but I am hoping they can find something that will connect him to this.”

Andrea scanned through the report quickly, “Can we tie this nut job to these bugs?”

“We’re working on it, Andrea,” Taylor rolled his eyes.

Sharon was about to say something about his attitude when her phone rang, “Yes, Mike?”

“Captain,” Tao spoke into the phone as Amy started the car, “We didn’t find anything. Pierce wasn’t there, and we didn’t even find a laptop.”

Sharon shook her head towards the two occupants of her office before returning her attention to the Lieutenant, “Thank you, Mike. I will brief you two when you get back.”

“We’ll get something on him, Captain,” he said softly, looking over at Amy who was listening in.

“I know,” she smiled into the phone, “Tell Amy I said thank you to her as well.”

“Will do, Captain,” he said before hanging up.

“If we didn’t find anything at his place, what should we do know?” Taylor asked as he looked at the Captain as she stood up and started to pace.

“Maybe we don’t do anything,” Sharon looked down at the report that Andrea had in her hands, “Chief, has SID removed the bugs yet?”

“No,” he said cautiously, “They were waiting to see if it would broadcast again.”

“Let’s have them set up all of the equipment that they need to out of sight of his cameras,” she said grabbing her purse, jacket, badge and gun, “When he broadcasts again, they can trace the feed back to the laptop.”

“Where are you going?” Andrea asked, trying to stop her friend from leaving.

“I am going back to my condo to get ready for when this guy decides to start broadcasting,” she said without hesitation.

“But why?” Taylor practically screamed, “We are going to have guys ready to trace the feed. Why do you need to be there?”

“Because if you haven’t looked at the clock recently, I have a little less than a half an hour to be home before he starts broadcasting, and if I’m not home when he does, he will know something is up,” Sharon said as she walked out of the door, leaving Taylor and Andrea in her office.

Sharon quickly made her way down to the parking garage and got into her car. Before she pulled out, she texted Rusty to stay away from the condo while they figured all of this out. He replied before she even had time to make it out on the street, that he was going out with some friends and, to call him when it was all settled. She smiled down at her phone and hurried home to make sure that they got this guy ASAP. As she got closer and closer to her condo, she let her anger about the situation simmer and build. By the time she made it to her condo and was making her way up to her floor, she was convinced that she would put a bullet in him the next time she saw him. 

Opening up her front door, Sharon took a deep breath and crossed the threshold. She went through her normal evening routine of hanging up her jacket and taking off her pumps. Deciding she needed to unwind, Sharon went to the kitchen and grabbed the bottle of Merlot from the fridge and a glass from the cabinet. All she could think about was the idea of Pierce watching her right now, and she had to fight the urge to turn and face the camera that she knew rested above her fridge. She felt her phone buzz and picked it up too see a text message from the Chief saying that they were tracing the feed now. Sharon shook her head at the reality of the situation before she headed to the living room and settled down on the couch. All she could do was wait until she got the ‘all clear’ from Taylor.

Her phone rang and she quickly answered it, “Captain Raydor,” she said into the phone.

“Hey, Sharon,” Andy greeted as he walked around the murder room finishing up the last of his paperwork.

“Andy,” she smiled to herself, “What can I do for you?”

“Provenza and I just got back to the murder room with the package Pierce gave to Jack,” he looked down at the evidence folder that held copies of all of the pictures, “It had more pictures in it, and some of them seem to have been taken from inside your condo. I think we need to sweep your place for bugs.”

Sharon held her breath as she thought about the pictures that she'd never showed him, “I think you are right. I will talk to Taylor tomorrow about getting it done,” she had to be careful what she said with the bugs still working.

“I’m still at the office,” he said quickly, “I will go talk to him right now.”

At first she was going to stop him, but she figured Taylor would tell him what was going on, “Thank you, Andy.”

“Of course,” he smiled as he headed out of the murder room and towards Taylor’s office, “Hey, have you eaten yet?”

“Not yet, no,” she laughed at the eager tone his voice took on.

“Why don’t I bring something over,” he offered, “I can protect you from all of the possible bugs too,” he joked.

She let a genuine laugh slip out as she imagined him grinning like a fool as he spoke, “My hero,” she giggled.

“That’s what I’m here for,” he chuckled, “What are you in the mood for? I can pick up anything.”

“Hmmmm, I’m thinking Italian would be great,” she said lightly.

“I meant I could pick up food,” he smirked, “But if you are in the mood for me, that works too.”

“Very funny,” she blushed, “You can never have too much Italian.”

“Then Italian it is!” he said, “There is a new place I have been wanting to try. I will call it in on my way to your place. I’m guessing you want your usual?”

“Yes please,” she hummed.

“Ok,” he smiled as he arrived outside of Taylor’s office, “I will be by soon with your food.”

“I can’t wait,” she laid back on the couch and looked up to the ceiling.

“See you soon, Sharon,” he said softly as he entered the office.

“I’ll be waiting,” she said lightly before hanging up.

 

At the office…

 

“Hey Chief,” Andy said as he walked into the office and took a seat in a chair in front of the large desk.

“What can I do for you, Flynn?” Taylor said without looking away from his computer screen.

“We picked up a package from Jackson Raydor, and the pictures in it led us to believe that the Captain’s condo has been bugged,” he said seriously.

Taylor looked at Flynn and took off his glasses, “We already know.”

“What?” Flynn gasped.

“I got a package of photos as well as a note threatening you. The Captain thought it would be best not to tell you about the possibility of bugs because you might freak out. We already swept her condo for bugs and we found them. Now we are waiting for the information to be traced back to the computer it is being broadcast to. That’s why the Captain is already home. She figured that if she continued with her usual routine, we could trace him without raising too much suspicion.”

Andy brought his hand up to his face and tried to rub away the exhaustion of the day, “I just called her, why didn’t she tell me any of this?”

“Because we also found microphones in several of the rooms of her condo,” Taylor explained, “she was probably worried about tipping this guy off.”

Andy sighed, “But you have a trace on this guy?”

“We've just got a location, and I've already sent patrol to pick him up.”

Andy nodded before standing up, “Okay, I am going to head out then.”

Taylor stood up and called out to him, “She was just trying to make sure that you didn’t overreact.”

“I know,” he said as he walked out and headed straight for his car.

 

Condo…

 

Sharon had just dozed off when she heard a knock at her door. She quickly righted herself and headed to the front door to let who she assumed to be Andy in; however, when she opened the door, Jonathan Pierce was standing outside her door. Before she could do anything, she felt a sharp pain in the side of her head as she was struck with what looked like a tire iron. Sharon fell to the ground and instantly clutched her head when she felt blood pouring out of the wound. She heard the door close and lock and Pierce walk towards her. She mustered all of her strength to start to crawl in the direction of the entry way table, which is where her purse and gun were. 

“Where do you think you are going, Sharon?” he chuckled and started to follow her.

Sharon bumped into the wall and used it to guide herself to the table. She could hear his footsteps behind her, slowly closing in on her. By the time she reached her purse, Pierce yanked it out of her grasp and dug around in it. Once he found her gun, he shook his head at her and smiled. He then continued to search her purse until he found her phone.

“What do you say we make sure the Lieutenant gets here quicker?” Pierce sneered at he dialed Andy’s number and put it on speaker.

“Sharon, I talked to Taylor and I understand why you didn’t tell me about the bugs and the package, but we really should talk after we get this guy. Apparently they are picking him up now, so we should be able to talk soon. Are you still in the mood for Italian or did you change your mind?” Andy said in a rush as he drove in the direction of the Italian restaurant.

“I think she has changed her mind about the food,” Pierce replied with a smile on his face as he looked down at Sharon, “And I don’t think I am about to be picked up considering the fact that they are tracing my laptop back to my apartment and not here.”

“Pierce!” Andy yelled as he sped up and headed for Sharon’s condo, “If you harm her, I swear you will not see another sunrise you son of a bitch!”

“I have no intention of listening to you desperately trying to stall until you get here, Lieutenant. You are to come to her condo alone and without alerting anybody,” Pierce adjusted the gun in his hand and held it out towards Sharon, “Do as I say or she will die. You better hurry.”

With that he hung up and bent down to look Sharon in the eye.

“You know that the only way you are leaving here is in a body bag, right?” she said weakly.

“The only one leaving in a body bag is going to be your Lieutenant,” Pierce laughed before reaching out to grab her arm, “Now let’s enjoy ourselves while we wait for your boyfriend to arrive.”


	8. The Moment of Truth

Julio sat in his car outside of Pierce’s apartment, waiting for the creep to emerge. Unfortunately, the reason Mike and Amy couldn’t find his laptop was because he had it with him, and they had left before he returned home. He looked at the building again and decided to check it out. Something wasn’t right, and he could feel it in his gut. Getting out of his car, Julio went straight to the front desk to check with the woman there.

“Excuse me, Miss,” Julio caught her attention, “I’m looking for Jonathan Pierce. Is he still here?”

She smiled at him before shaking her head, “I’m sorry. He just left out the back.”

“Are you sure?” Julio looked towards the back door.

“Yeah,” she said politely, “He left about 15 minutes ago.”

“Thanks,” he said before heading back outside to get into his car.

He rushed back to station to tell the rest of the team, and hopefully figure out where their guy could have gone.

At the Condo…

Sharon could only see darkness and there was an even larger pain in her head. She tried to bring her hands up to the wound to see if it was still bleeding, but she couldn’t move her arms or hands. Realizing that she must have been knocked out, Sharon slowly started to open her eyes. There was some light making its way through the curtains of her window, but if she had to guess, it was almost sunset. The next thing she realized was that she was sitting up in a chair that she was securely strapped to. 

“Ah, welcome back to the land of the living,” a deep voice said from behind her, “I hope you don’t mind that I made myself at home.”

Pierce walked around to face her, sitting on the coffee table in front of her. Sharron tried to speak, but she noticed that a gag had been fastened around her mouth. He chuckled as he watched her look around her living room while trying to wiggle out of her binds. He had removed her glasses while he was tying her up, and the furry in her jade eyes was clearer than ever. If only she knew how gorgeous she looks, he thinks to himself. 

 

He reached for the gag, but stopped short, “I’m going to remove it, but if you scream it goes back in, understood?” she nodded and he removed it before continuing, “I made some salad and a turkey sandwich, do you want some?”

He held out a plate to her, but she simply ignored it, “What exactly do you think is going to happen, Jonathan?” 

“Well,” he put the plate down and leaned in close, “I plan on slowly killing your boyfriend as he watches me love you,” he runs his fingers across her cheek and down her neck, “I want him to realize that he is not good enough for you right before he dies,” his fingers move lower to the neckline of her shirt, “then you and I will be able to get out of here and we can find a place for us to live.”

Sharon pulled away and tried to escape his hand as it moved over her breasts, “I’m not going to go anywhere with you, and I swear if you lay a hand on Andy I’ll-”

Suddenly he stands up and slaps her across the face, “Or you’ll what?! You can’t do anything, Sharon! You are mine and that is how it is going to be.”

Sharon regained her senses and clenched her jaw. She knew that as soon as she was free from these bonds, she was going to teach this idiot how to hit. 

“Is this how you treat women?” she ground out, “You hit them and hope that they are scared enough to listen to you? Well, if that’s what you think is going to happen then you have no clue who I am.”

Sharon listened as his chuckling turned into that of a maniac, “I’ve watched you accept Jack back into your life and let him get away with so much. I know how weak you are when it comes to men like him. That’s why you fell for your alcoholic Lieutenant, is it not?”

She looked directly in him and let Darth Raydor out, “I’ve never had a weakness to men like Jack. My weakness was Jack. Andy is nothing like him, and I don’t care what you have to say about it. I am not yours or anybody’s and I am not going to let you tell me otherwise.”

“I think it’s cute that you still think you have a choice, Sharon,” he said as he caressed her cheek.

Turning her cheek away from his hand, she glared at him, “And I think it’s annoying that you think you can get away with this.”

Grabbing her chin, Pierce forced her to look at him and was about to yell at her when there was a knock at the door. He smirked at her before pulling her gun from the back of his pants and walking behind her.

Crouching behind Sharon, Jonathan called out, “Who is it?”

“Who the hell do you think it is you asshole?!” Andy’s voice sounded from the other side of the front door.

“The key is above the door jam,” he said, resting his head on Sharon’s shoulder, “Let yourself in and lock the door behind you.”

They both listened as Andy placed the key in the lock and opened the door, throwing it open with his gun drawn. He shut the door behind him and locked it, never taking his eyes off of Sharon and Pierce. A he made his way further into the condo, Andy could see that Sharon had a bruise forming on her left cheek and was seething with anger. There was no way that this creep was making it out of here alive. 

“That’s far enough, Lieutenant,” Pierce said, stopping Andy from moving any closer, “Place the gun on the floor and kick it this way.”

Andy shook his head, “There’s no way that’s happening, asshole!” 

Pierce placed the barrel of the gun against Sharon’s head, “I guess I am just going to have to shoot her then.”

“Lieutenant,” Sharon spoke up, “Don’t you dare lower your weapon.”

Pierce pressed the gun harder against her head making her gasp, “Put you gun down!”

“Lieutenant, I am ordering you not to lower your weapon,” the Captain said as Pierce grabbed the back of her neck and yanked her head back.

Andy stood there not quite sure as to what to do. He knew that Sharon would kill him if he lowered his weapon and something went wrong, but he didn’t want to lose her. Training his gun on Pierce, Andy tried to judge whether or not he could take the shot without hitting Sharon. Although he was comfortable with his abilities, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he hurt her. He could see that she was preparing for the shot, and he knew that he had to take it. With her tied to the chair, he didn’t have very many options in saving her. 

“Flynn,” Pierce called, “I am going to give you 10 seconds to choose. Either you drop your gun or I will put a bullet in her.”

“Andy,” Sharon said softly, “Just take the shot. It’s okay.”

“Shut up!” Pierce yelled and pulled harder on the nape of her neck.

He lined up the shot, and was preparing to shoot when he realized he was shaking. There was no way for him to take the shot without hitting Sharon. He was letting her down, but he would rather her be upset with him than be the reason she was hurt or even worse. He reluctantly lowered his gun and crouched down to place it on the floor. He could see the disappointment in Sharon’s gaze and had to look away. Kicking the gun towards Pierce, Andy waited for further instructions while he avoided eye contact with Sharon. 

Pierce let go of Sharon and slowly approached the gun, “I’m surprised you didn’t follow a direct order from your Captain.”

Andy refused to answer as he watched Pierce grabbed the gun and unloaded it. He then moved behind Sharon again and held the gun to her head as the thought out his next step.

“I want you to stand over there near the kitchen table,” Pierce said as he motioned towards the next room.

Andy glanced at Sharon before heading towards the table and leaning against it, hoping to talk this guy down. He watched as Pierce studying him while he continued to hold the gun to Sharon.

“I’m going to give you a chance to tell me why you think you deserve her Lieutenant,” Jonathan said calmly as he walked closer to Andy.

“I’ve already told her that I don’t deserve her,” Andy sighed, “She knows that I feel like she is settling for somebody who is a lot worse than what she needs and deserves. I have already thought about how similar Jack and I are, and every time I am with her, I can’t help but think that I am going to screw up or remind her of him.” 

Andy watches as Sharon sits still, listening to everything that he is saying. While he had told her about his concerns with her settling, he never broached the subject of the similarities between Jack and himself. She lightly shook her head as he shared his fears of screwing up.

“You and nothing like him, Andy,” she interjected fiercely. 

“Now, now Sharon, it’s Andy’s turn to talk,” Pierce tutted. 

Andy looked at her and nodded as she tilted her head towards t coffee table next to her. It was time for him to distract this idiot.

“I know that now, but there are still parts of me that worry that I am going to let you down. However,” he took a deep breath and turned his attention to Pierce, “I have also made sure that she knows that I will do everything in my power to make sure that she is treated like the amazing woman that she is. I will love and protect her more than anybody else, and make sure she is taken care of. I will try to be the man that she deserves, which is something you could never do.”

Sharon is slowly working her hands out of the binds and reaching under the coffee table, looking for the gun that Andy knows she keeps under there. He just has to stall for a little bit longer and then they will be fine, but Pierce was already starting to fume.

“There is no way in hell that you are the right man for her,” Jonathan approached him, visibly seething.

Sharon grabbed hold of the gun and started to pry the duct tape off of it, but the way that Pierce was gripping his gun made her nervous.

“And what makes you think you deserve her?” Andy asked, hoping Sharon was almost ready. 

“You son of a bitch!” he yelled before pointed his gun at Andy and pulling the trigger twice.

“No!” Sharon yelled as she watched Andy crumple to the floor in her dining room.

Pierce turned and started to approach her just as she got the gun free. Swinging her hands in front of her, Sharon pulled the trigger three times, hitting him twice in the chest and once in the head. She quickly reached down to free her feet before running to Pierce and kicking her gun away. Once she knew it was far from his reach in case he was still miraculously alive, she rushed to Andy’s side. Kneeling down next to him, she quickly placed her hands over the two bullet wounds to his chest and abdomen. She was trying to think of where her phone could possibly be when her front door was kicked down and her team came rushing in.

Various shouts of ‘clear’ were heard throughout the condo before paramedics were ushered in to Andy’s aid. They shoved her away and began stabilizing him as Lieutenant Provenza stepped to her side and pulled her into the living room.

“We need to get your gun and your statement, Captain,” he said gently.

“They need to stop the bleeding,” she said absently.

“Julio,” Provenza called, “any ideas on how to calm her down?”

Julio stepped forward and turned the Captain so her back was to Andy and the paramedics, “Captain? Ma’am?” still nothing, “Sharon?” he said a bit more forcefully.

Her head instantly shot up and her eyes met his, “Oh, I’m sorry, Julio. What were you saying?” 

Julio turned to Provenza, who encouraged him to talk to her, “Can you tell us what happened?”

Sharon took a deep breath before beginning to tell them what happened, “I came home, waiting for the team to trace the feed from the bugs in my apartment, which the Chief will explain if you ask him, but what we didn’t know was that Pierce was coming here. He showed up and I thought it was Andy, but before I could do anything I was knocked to the ground. He got my gun and cell and called Andy here so he could kill him. When he hung up he dragged me into the living room and knocked me out. 

“When I woke up I was tied to that chair and gagged, and Pierce was waiting for Andy with my gun. Andy showed up and when he came in, Pierce had him lock the door and put down his gun, which I told him not to do,” she growled, “He told Andy to go into the kitchen and he started asking him questions. I started moving towards the coffee table where I keep a gun tapped to the bottom, and Andy stalled for as long as he could,” She took a deep breath before continuing, “Just as I got my spare, Pierce pulled the trigger twice and Andy fell to the ground. When he turned to me I shot him three times and then kicked the gun away and went to Andy. Then you guys came in.”

Julio and Provenza nodded and accepted her gun as she handed it to them. As they were wrapping up, the paramedics had stabilized Andy and were taking him to the hospital. Sharon quickly excused herself to follow the paramedics as the team began processing the condo. Sykes had already called the medical examiner and Julio gave Sharon’s statement and location to FID. Mike was looking over the body as Buzz continued to film everything. 

“Remind me to never piss off the Captain,” Amy said as she looked down at the body, “She sure can shoot.”

“You should have seen her with a bean bag gun,” Mike laughed as he moved into the living room.

“I’ll admit that the woman can shoot,” Provenza grumbled before turning to Tao, “There should be some duct tape under that table. The Captain said she had her back up taped there.”

Tao bent down and gave him the thumbs up just as Rusty walked in, “What the hell happened?’

Buzz instantly blocked him from going into the dining room area and kept him in the hallway as Provenza settled him down.

“The psychopath that we have been looking for broke in and caused some damage. Flynn was shot twice, but your mother shot the son of a bitch that broke in.”

“Which hospital did they go to?” Rusty asked, and thanked Provenza as he read the piece of paper with an address on it.

“Drive safe kid,” Provenza said, “Your mother is safe, and Flynn is stubborn enough to take the bullets. We don’t need you getting hurt for nothing.”

Rusty nodded and headed for the door before he stopped, “You said she shot him?”

“Yeah,” Provenza shrugged.

“Please tell me she’s as good of a shot as Flynn says,” Rusty smiled.

Provenza chuckled before waving hi off, “Morales will be the only person to deal with him now.”

With that, Rusty left and the team continued their work as they finally took a deep breath. One more creep gone and no more revealing photos of their boss. Luckily for them, FID cleared everything and took over the rest of the case, which meant that Major Crimes didn’t have to do the paper work. 

“Alright,” Mike called as he followed everybody out of the condo building, “Why don’t we go pay Andy and the Captain a visit?”

 

At the Hospital

Sharon listened as the doctor explained that the bullets had done minimal damage and they were simply going to stop the bleeding and then stich him up. Somehow the bullets had missed major organs and were through and through, which meant that he would be out of surgery in about an hour. By the time they were done and Andy was ready for visitors, the team had just arrived and were letting Sharon know that her condo was cleared by FID, but that she couldn’t go back for a few days while they waited for the crime scene to be released.

“I guess that means that I am just going to have to stay with Andy for a bit,” she laughed as Provenza rolled his eyes and said something about ‘idiots.’

“Let’s just go make sure that Flynn isn’t living it up with the nurses and then get out of here,” he growled before brushing past everyone and leading the way to Andy’s room.

They spent a couple minutes talking to him until a nurse ushered everyone but Sharon and Rusty out. 

“Thanks again for coming, kid,” Andy said and Rusty looked awkwardly down at his shoes.

“Yeah,” he said simply.

Sharon shook her head before leaning down to kiss Andy’s lips softly, “We will let you get some rest.”

As they were leaving, Andy called out, “Wait! Where are you two going to stay? Your condo is still a crime scene.”

“We’ll get a hotel room,” Sharon said gently, “Don’t worry about us.”

“Sharon!” Andy called out again as they were halfway out the door, “Please just take my keys and stay at my place. I have two spare rooms that you are both welcome to, or one of you can take my room.”

Sharon thought about saying no, but when she saw the fear in his eyes, she realized that he wanted to make sure they were safe. She nodded and grabbed his keys from his bag of belongings near the door before thanking him one last time and leaving. Andy sighed softly before he thought about Sharon sleeping in his bed without him. This was going to be a long night if his thoughts kept going in the direction they were, but at least she was safe now.


End file.
